New Beginnings
by 101Salocin
Summary: A girl was turned into a gem and sent into the future of a parallel Earth, where gems live on the remaining land left after devastating assaults from asteroids changed everything. Her/their very presence has thrown off the intended timeline of this world, how will things now play out? (OC gem)
1. Chapter 1

**So, hello there, I'm the author. This is my very first attempt at writing a fanfiction, so I hope you guys enjoy it. I strongly appreciate feedback, so do leave comments.**

 _One_

I rolled to my left side in my bed, wondering who turned on the light in my room. The bed also felt, I don't know, sandy? Sure does felt like sand though, but why?

 _Wait, that's right, why is there sand on my bed?_

I popped open my eyes. This isn't my room at all! Where the hell am I?

Ahead of me is a vast ocean, I was lying on a beautiful but small white, sandy beach all this while. Behind me was a beautiful grassland, but strangely devoid of any major life. Other than the butterflies and whatnot flying around there aren't any grass-eating animals around.

I stood up, but something with me felt... odd. Like, I really don't feel like myself.

Wait, I'm not breathing. Am I dead?

I took a look at my arms. They're white, sparkling, glittering. They're hard.

My entire body was made up with the same gem-like material and looks, glittering under the sunlight. I was naked, but I didn't have any genitals, breasts or nipples. Just a smooth, gem-like body.

I felt my face. A cold, hard and smooth texture was all I felt. I began to feel really curious and ran towards the sea. I really needed to look at myself.

What greeted me was my face, gem-like and glittery. My hair... my hair is a glistening white with a degree of translucency.

I really don't look human. I look more like a freshly-processed gem.

I'm as fascinated as I'm shocked with my new looks.

 _What..._

 _What am I?_

* * *

 _What the hell is going on?_

Why do I look like this?

I wouldn't say I dislike it though, but having my whole body sparkle like a newly-processed diamond may be a bit too much.

 _Oh well, still looks pretty cool._

I got up. Sitting down like this won't solve my problems, I need to explore my surroundings first.

I started walking. Even though my body was hard, it can still completely bend the way it's supposed to, my joints don't feel unrestricted and I can move my mouth as per normal. Weird.

I balled up my fist and knocked on my left leg, at the thigh. It didn't hurt, but the impact sent weird-feeling vibrations throughout my body, as if I am a piece of rock. Oh, right, I am technically a piece of rock now.

I sigh. Gotta get used to my new life, I guess.

The grassland around is really beautiful, but it's really devoid of cattle, sheep and the like. Not that it's unnatural, but it's a big enough detail. There was a cliff just on my left beside the beach, but that's just some cliff, nothing to see there.

Wait, did I hear something?

I spin to the right, just in time to see the sky darken. I mean, not in a rainy-sort of way, there literally was an increasingly large black patch in the sky, forming some sort of shape that I really can't explain. Out came forth a group of, I don't know, angel like people? They're white, dressed in monk-like robes and somewhat glowing, but they aren't angels for sure. In the center of the group there was one really large "angel", with light coming out from behind said figure. I'm no expert in religion, but that certainly ain't Buddha paying a visit.

Furthermore they seem to be aiming arrows at me, Buddhism is a peaceful religion - wait, arrows?

Oh no. They're _shooting_ at me! _They're freaking shooting at me!_

 _I gotta run._

I sprinted out just a mere moment before arrows landed on where I stood on. That was close, but I don't have time to stop. They fired another wave of arrows at me, this time I barely missed them. I can't keep this up anymore, they're catching up to me no matter how fast I'm running.

"HELP! ANYONE?"

It was futile, but I still yelled. Just in case I'm not alone in this place.

Hell no, I can't outrun those things, I'm going to be hit soon!

"SOMEONE HELP ME, I'M REALLY GONNA DIE!"

"You won't die, silly, you're a gem! We've got you covered!"

What? Who was that? Looking ahead, I saw two girls (or people who look like girls) running towards the angel-like beings. One of them had short silver hair while the other had long, pink hair in a somewhat big quantity.

"Ah, a new face," I barely heard the silver-haired girl comment to herself.

"Fall back!" the pink-haired one shouted at me, "We'll handle this! Just keep running in your current direction and you'll reach the temple! You'll be safe there!"

"Alright, thanks!" I shouted in reply, before I tripped over a stone and hit the ground face-first.

"Ow!"

Attempting to get up, I looked back and found that the "beings" are now focused on attacking the two girls. The duo, brandishing their swords, were likewise attacking the group of beings, being extremely skillful as they did so.

I could only stare in awe as they sliced through many of those "things". At that moment, I genuinely felt safe, so I stayed seated on the grass.

The pink-haired girl sliced the largest of those beings, but judging by her expression the "angels" should all have died. They didn't. I could only see spears launch from within the inside of the large "angel", alongside the girls' shocked looks.

They continued to fight, but they were "fractured" and fell to the floor in pieces, their insides closely resembling broken gemstones. Are they dead?

Realizing that I was now in danger again, I struggled to get up, but I was panicking too much and was unable to stand. The "cloud" now has its attention on me and is drawing closer.

Is this the end for me?

I stared at the beings in pure, unadulterated terror. They pulled their bows and aimed at me.

Then they all suddenly disappeared in a puff of vapor.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Turning around, I saw a green-haired girl run towards me. Behind her was a large bald man along with 20 or so girls. The girl offered me her hand.

Still shaken, I accepted her hand and got up with her help.

"Thanks," I managed to mutter after regaining enough of my composure.

"You're welcome, seems like you've just been born, but how are you this refined right from the start? Anyway, my name's Phosphophyllite, but you can call me Phos."

"Nice to meet you, Phos." Wait doesn't phosphophyllite sound like a name for a gem? Eh, better keep my mouth shut.

Looking around, I saw the bald man approach the two broken girls. Even though he was expressionless, I get the feeling that he's getting increasingly angry.

"Looking out for your elders, are you?"

"HERE IT COMES! FALL BACK! " I heard someone yell. Phos also suddenly hugged me tightly, taking me by surprise.

"Wait, what's going on? What am I mis-"

"IT'S FAR TOO EARLY FOR THAT! _YOU FOOLS!_ "

His mere shout sent a huge shockwave across the plains, I could swear that I felt myself crack. That was amazingly strong, I saw a dead tree completely splinter some distance away.

Oh god, Phos has broken under the pressure, her legs having completely fragmented while her face has split, showing her green insides.

"Phos? Phos! Don't die on me yet, don't die on me yet!" I shook her torso to no avail.

"Relax, she isn't dead." I felt a big hand on my shoulders. "Gems like you will never die, but she'd need to be put together again."

"Eh?"

"Oh dear. You're particularly fragile," the man continued, shifting his attention to Phos while wearing some white gloves.

* * *

"You have a hardness of only three and a half. Simply brushing into someone is more than enough to break you", the man told Phos while her and the two other girls were put into black bags along with all their fragments. "And what's more, you're a peppermint color that the Lunarins are fond of. To overcome all these weaknesses, you would need to be able to wipe out an entire army in one fell swoop. You would need to be stronger than myself," he finished while looking at Phos. I could only sit at the side and watch them, since I really don't know what to do.

"Not gonna be doing that," Phos pouted in her bag.

"Which is why I've decided," the man replied while pulling out a notebook, "that you should compile our encyclopedia."

"Wha-"

"What?!" was the reaction from Phos while she shook the bag.

"You're going to spill! Stop moving!" a girl with green hair shouted. She reminds me of jade, but I don't know.

"Quite the contrary," the man answered, "by compiling an encyclopedia, you will both preserve the present and prepare for the future. It is an important role which requires creativity and intelligence. The key to a battle is the eye, if you wish to fight, first train your eyes through this task."

Phos' eyes furrowed.

"I know you're just trying to trick me into it," she retorted as her bag was zipped up, every piece of her already placed inside.

"You're just about the only one who would dare talk back like that," a blue-haired girl chimed in, "you've sure got nerve for someone who does nothing around here at all."

"Who asked you?" was the reply from inside the bag as it jumped up and down. She may not be courteous, but I really like her attitude.

"But it is the very frankness of yours that is needed for this task." the man spoke. "I am counting on you."

"Oh, right. You're the newcomer," the man said, shifting his focus to me. "You can call me Kongo-sensei, I look after all the gems here. Please, let me take a look at you, come closer."

"Alright."

I got up and walked towards him, allowing him to analyze my features. As he stared down at me, I couldn't help but feel myself blush deeply.

"Oh, look at how red your face is," a bemused girl with gold and red hair commented. She was wearing a white coat and black tights, as opposed to most of the other girls' short-sleeved shirts and short pants.

"You look like Diamond, only less bright.. You shall be called Danburite."

"Danburite?"

"Yes."

"This is my name now?"

"Yes."

Danburite. I really like this name.

"Thank you," I replied while bowing to Kongo-sensei.

"You're welcome. You are a fascinating gem, athough you're new you have a firm grasp on the concept of death. But I'll not pursue it, you've probably had a pretty big scare from the Lunarins already."

"Lunarins? Those things?"

"Yes, they come from the moon. In time you will learn everything, but for now you need to come with us to the school."

"Danburite," Phos thought out loud. "Hey, can I call you Dan?"

"Why not?"

"Sweet! Alright Dan, let's get along well together!"

"Alright!"

And thus my new life began.


	2. Chapter 2

_Two_

This is one hell of a school, I thought to myself as Rutile, or the gem in white coat, applied powder to where my skin would be if I were still a human, giving me a white skin-like appearance that doesn't sparkle like mad. Rutile is the doctor around here, and they (that's what the pronoun for the gems are, though honestly it's confusing to me) are the doctor around here.

"Alright, you're done. Go look for Red Beryl for your clothes and hairstyle later, I'll have to patch up Morganite and Goshenite now."

"No problem, thanks. I think I'll sit around here for a bit more first," I replied.

"Need any help?" Phos asked Morganite, which was the girl with pink hair.

"Nope. You put my legs on backwards the last time, so no thanks."

"Hmph, haven't forgotten that, huh?" Phos retorted while snatching the bowl containing Morg's parts.

"Hey! Stop! Don't you have an encyclopedia to write?" Morg shouted while grabbing onto her bowl.

"No one's ever going to need it anyway and it's just a pain to deal with," Phos brushed aside while the two began pulling on the bowl.

"Sounds just like you!"

"Oh, just shut up!"

I decided to chime in for a bit. "Well, I think an encyclopedia is important for us to record present data so that people in the future can look into them. You can get some interesting information that nobody knows and put it in, that way you can get everyone to learn something new."

"You're oddly bright for a newborn," Morg commented while still struggling with the bowl, "you sure you're just born today?"

"Pretty much, I woke up today on the small beach in between the plains and the sea, to the right of the cliff."

"Not the Beach of Beginnings? Odd, that's where we've all came from, you're a first. Near Cinnabar's cave too."

"Cinnabar? Who's that?"

"They live in the cave under the cliff, coming out in the night only for patrol," Rutile explained. "Their poison kills anything it touches, and any part of us hits it and it'll go dull and we'll have to chip it off. You'd lose some memories though, but probably nothing important."

"Hey, Rutile?" the silver-haired gem, Goshenite spoke.

"What is it?" Rutile replied while they fitted in Goshnite's right foot with a crack.

Goshenite winced in pain for a moment as their right leg reconnected with their torso.

"Helio got turned into all of this," they said while pointing to a bowl full of yellow fragments, "but if we get back all the pieces, you can reform them, right?"

"Of course. Our very bodies are home to microscopic organisms, you see. Thanks to them, even if we break into pieces, as long as we collect enough pieces, we can be put back together. It's a wonderful characteristic of ours seen in no other living being."

I've noticed that Phos and Morg had stopped fighting. "So, we're basically immortal?"

"That is right, Danburite. We have an indefinite lifespan, unlike most other living beings. We get our energy from the sun, instead of consuming food like the others."

"Fascinating."

"But thanks to that, we have grown incapable of giving up on anything," Rutile finished as they applied power to cover the remaining minor cracks on Goshenite.

"There you go, good as new."

As Rutile moved on to work on Morganite, a red twintail-haired gem popped out and ran towards me.

"Hey, newbie! I'm Red Beryl! Stand up and I'll take down your measurements, you're going to get your clothes in a jiffy!"

"Alright," I replied and stood up, and Red Beryl immediately began to take down all my measurements.

"Alright, all done!"

"So quickly?"

"Yeah! By the way, allow me to style your hair, I wonder what hairstyle would fit you. Ponytail seems okay, but that's not good enough, free-flowing hair doesn't suit you, neither does short…"

"Twintails," I muttered to myself.

"Ah, right, twintails! Long twintails look perfect on you, let's do it!" Red Beryl enthusiastically said as they began styling my hair. In a short few minutes' time they was done with my hair.

"You look great! Stay here, I'll get your clothes out real quick!" she exclaimed as she ran off, probably to her room.

Just around this time Rutile was done putting Morganite back together.

"Alright," Morganite declared, "let's head back out then."

The two gems started to run, until Phos turned around and grabbed them by the arm.

Surprised, the two gems stopped and turned around.

Morganite reacted really quickly. "WATCH IT!"

Phos flinched.

"You're the one who would break if we bumped into each other, you three-half!"

"Oh, I'm quite used to it, O Great Seven. Take me wit-"

"Absolutely not!"

"You have to!" Phos seemed rather angry from my side. "If I hadn't told Kongo-sensei, the both of you would be out on the moon right now! Don't forget it!"

"Rutile," Morganite gazed over, "you sure you can't make Phos' body as strong as the mouth and vice versa?"

"Come on," Phos went on, "just get me out of this awful job, will you?"

Morg snickered. "You really hate it that much, do you?"

"Of course! I want a cooler job!"

"Wait," I chimed in, "three-half? Seven? What do they mean?"

"Oh, that's a scale of how hard we are," Rutile said, "Phos here is pretty fragile at 3 and a half, while Morganite has a hardness level of 7. The highest on the scale is 10, and the only two gems around here at that level are Diamond and Bort."

"Ah, I see."

"Right, we still don't know how hard you are, but we're not going to test you now."

"Anyway," Goshenite spoke, "Phos, would you want to trade places with me then?" They offered her sword to Phos.

Slowly, Phos stretched their hand, but then quickly retracted it.

"'I'm not quite so pitiful as to take that what does not belong to me…'" Phos began.

"Is what you probably thought I'd say! You're mistaken" they finished, immediately grabbing the sword with force, throwing Morganite and Goshenite back and the notebook into the air. Having grabbed the scabbard instead of the hilt of the blade, Phos sent the actual sword flying in the air while they grasped the scabbard.

"That's heavy you know!" Goshenite shouted, but it was a bit too late.

Phos fell backwards, knocking over a wooden stool in the process.

"Maybe this will teach you a lesson," Morganite commented.

"I just finished putting you back together…" sighed Rutile.

As Phos looked up, the notebook landed flat on their face, and moments later the sword's tip came down, straight into the notebook.

The notebook and sword slid down Phos' face, showing a shaken but physically unharmed Phos behind.

'Oh, thank goodness!" Goshenite sighed in as they slumped over in relief. "I didn't think you'd really take it!"

"Hey." Phos stared at Morgamite with an expressionless face. "You were hoping it would hit me, weren't you?"

"You got me," Morg smirked.

"Jeez, all right," Phos relented, "Fine then."

"My only friend here…" they said as they picked up the notebook, looking at the thin silt

caused by the sword.

"... is you."

"I can help out," I volunteered.

"Eh, really?" Phos lit up.

"Yes, but I'm not doing it alone, it's your job after all. I'll see what I can do to help you, but ultimately you're the boss, alright?" I offered with a smile.

"Aw, thanks Dan!" Phos shouted while they lunged towards me for a hug.

"Woah, easy," I managed to voice out as I nearly stumbled. "But first, I'll need my clothes."

"I'm back!" Red Beryl shouted from a few meters away, holding what seems to be my new clothes.

* * *

I'd say, these clothes are really nice.

I've got the standard uniform most of the girls were wearing, a high-collared undershirt with a tie along with a short-sleeved, V-collared outer black shirt. To top it off at the bottom, I've also got the standard black shorts. Both shirts and shorts are a perfect fit with only a minimal gap between my "skin" and clothes, making them feel pretty tight if I were still human, but as a gem these aren't uncomfortable. In fact I'd say they're absolutely comfortable. Red Beryl has also decided that I look great with black overknee socks, so there am I with them. I've never tried shoes with heels before, but now that I have these black shoes with heels they honestly feel great.

Looking in the mirror, I can't help but admire the design of the "uniform". Red Beryl is really talented at tailoring.

"So, do you like it?"

"It's perfect. Thank you, Red Beryl."

Red Beryl smiled. "You're welcome, this is my job too! Alright, I gotta go, see ya!"

As they ran off, I turned around to face Phos.

"So, shall we begin?"

* * *

"Dammit, we've really gone nowhere."

"This job sucks!"

Phos and I stared at the blank notebook.

"By the way, Dan, did anyone tell you that you somewhat resemble Diamond?"

"Sensei said that when he looked at me, but how so?"

"Well, you have the same color, just more dull and less colorful when you glitter. Change your face and cut your hair like hers, and I'll not be able to tell both of you apart!"

"Ehehe, by the way, this 'powder' on me…"

"Ah, it's to hide our actual looks. Having your own body look like that isn't nice, isn't it? I mean, your whole body's going to sparkle, and for me it'll be both green and sparkling, it's not going to look good."

"Yeah, I agree with you."

"Hey, Dan," Phos asked, "what's an encyclopedia?"

"You didn't know?"

"Nope."

"Eh," I started, "an encyclopedia is something like a book or a collection of multiple books that contain information about, uh," I lost my words for a moment, "uh, basically anything. Like, recording stuff."

"The library is full of information already though, is there really anything else for us to record down?" Phos grumbled.

"Well, we have to find something interesting then."

"So how well are you two going?" Morganite questioned as they walked up and took the notebook before Phos or I could stop them.

"Woah, it's blank?!"

"Don't peek!" Phos blurted out while blushing lightly.

"You two really put in all your efforts into not doing anything, huh?" Morg commented just as Phos managed to snatch the notebook back. "I'm amazed."

"No! We're just working on a great overall concept, right?" Phos defended while looking at me with a "Please, cover me" look.

"Uh, yeah, something like that, we're finding something interesting to record down."

"I heard that encyclopedias are supposed to categorize everything in Nature itself," Goshenite commented as she walked up from behind.

"Goshe!" Phos called out in happiness while throwing their both arms up. "Like how, though?"

"Maybe recording all the bugs and plants along the shore?" Goshe suggested.

"Eh, too boring," I complained.

"Gonna need more than that," Phos said in agreement.

"I guess we already know about all the important stuff, so maybe the unimportant stuff?" Goshe asked.

"Almost there! Give me more!"

Goshe sighed.

"We aren't really all familiar with this stuff, sorry. Lookouts like us always have our eyes on the skies…" Goshe continued, looking out of the large, netted window.

"Oh! Cinnabar might know, though."

"Cinnabar…" Phos wondered.

"Why not you go ask?" Goshe suggested.

"I can't do that!" was the reply from the green-haired gem. "I can't even get close to Cinnabar! We've never spoken to each other at all!"

"But Cinnabar might know more than us," Goshe pointed out.

"Anyway," Morg chimed in, "good luck on your wild discoveries, Master Scholars."

The words "Master Scholars" seem to echo in Phos. They immediately lighted up, which made me giggle for a bit.

"All right!" Phos exclaimed as they jumped out of her chair in enthusiasm.

"Idiot," was the reply from Morg as they and Goshe left.

Phos sat down on the floor. "Cinnabar, huh? Nope. I should probably ask Master Kongo instead."

"Hey Phos, that sounds like a great idea, why not?"

Phos thought about it for a moment.

"Nope, that'd be even worse. Half a day of lecture at least."

"Ah." I could still remember the lectures I had in school, most of which are boring. I can really sympathize with Phos on that.

The memory from what I now call my "past life" reminded me about home. I know I really wanted to leave that world, but now that I have left, I was slightly worried. What would my family do when they notice their daughter had gone missing? Probably nothing, they don't even care about me other than my school grades. Would anyone in school notice? Absolutely not, in fact I feel that my class would genuinely celebrate my disappearance. Who cares about the livelihood of the bullied outcast in school anyway? Life would go on, perhaps better for some schoolmates, no effect on the other people in the world.

 _People._ That's right, people. Where are the humans?

Nah, I'll keep my mouth shut for now. I'll ask Phos later.

"Still, I'm not really getting anywhere on my own," I heard Phos mutter."I wouldn't mind making some big discovery, though."

"Big discovery. Hey Phos, uh, where are we?"

"Huh? What do you mean 'where are we'?"

"Eh, I know this is probably Earth, but wher-"

"Hold on," Phos interrupted, "What is Earth?"

"Uh… um..." Dang, if she doesn't know what this planet's name is, then she wouldn't know what humans are. Best not to prod it down now.

"Heh, it's nothing. Anyway," I quickly interjected before they could prod further into me, "uh, what's the history of Ear- I mean, this planet?"

"Ah, that's easy!" Phos enthusiastically said. "You're a newborn so you wouldn't know, so hold on, here we go!"

"The planet has been visited six times by meteors. Six times it was broken, and it gave birth to six new moons, leaving it an emaciated shadow of its former self. When there was nothing left of the land but a single beach, all life fled to the ocean, and on that beach, life suited to the sparse environment appeared. They were eaten by tiny creatures on the ocean's floor, turned into inanimate objects. Some creatures who had flourished when the Moon was still one were too slow in their escape and sunk into the seas, crystallized over the ages, and again, they were thrown back up upon the beach. That is us!" Phos explained with enthusiasm.

"Woah," was all that I could voice out. Judging from what she said, looks like humanity didn't survive. I can't blame them though, six meteors which created 6 more moons isn't something light.

"Wait, six moons? So which one of these do the Lunarins come from?" I asked.

"The oldest one, I think," was the reply I received.

"Luna," I muttered to myself, thinking about the actual Moon of Earth.

"Luna?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing! I was talking to myself!" I defended myself. I had to keep my knowledge of the past to myself for now, just in case.

"You're a weird one, newbie," Phos said as they stared at me in a scrutinizing way, which they immediately dropped a moment later.

"Okay! The Master Scholars must be open to the opinions of others. Let's go, Dan!"

"You're going to ask Cinnabar?"

"Nope, others around! Hurry up, let's go!" Phos said while they grabbed my arm barely after I got up and pulled me forward as we ran.

This life isn't bad at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**No, I'm not stalling, I'm just working on a greater overall concept! Right, Phos?**

 _Three_

"Huh? Something new?" A mostly-yellow-multibraided-haired gem pondered for a moment. "I only know about the stuff I use. But hey, I want to fix this chair, so could either of you two just hold that there for a while? Oh, you must be Danburite, I'm Sphene. Welcome to the family."

"Oh! Nice timing, Phos!" That was Red Beryl, who strode in while Phos was holding onto the chair, unable to move. "Can you model this for me?" the red-haired gem asked, holding what seems to be fabric.

"I heard you're working on an encyclopedia…" a green-and-short-haired commented to Phos, not paying any special attention to the black robe Phos was wearing and the stars placed on her hair. "We're running low on hemp this year, so don't go wasting paper!"

"Hey," I asked the grumpy-looking Phos, "who's that?"

"This is Peridot," was the reply to me, "she's in charge of making paper."

"Ah, you must be the newcomer! Danburite, right? Want to make some paper?"

"Ah, no thanks, maybe sometime later!"

"I know all about glues and powders," Rutile said while holding onto a knee section and hand of what seems to be the Helio that Goshe mentioned earlier today, "but you want something no one has used before, huh?"

Phos and I had ran away from Red Beryl's clutches (mostly Phos dragging me along since I wasn't involved with Red Beryl's modelling). I didn't know gems could pant or even breathe for that matter, but here am I and Phos, catching our breaths. Phos was using a chair as support, slouching over while standing, while I was sitting on the floor, lying on the side seats.

"Cinnabar out on night watch might know something if you ask," Rutile suggested.

"Oh come on!" Phos suddenly shouted while looking up at Rutile, which startled me. "Wouldn't you know more than anyone? Are you just brushing me off cause you're busy, you quack?" She complained while she stood up and walked closer to the doctor.

Right, "they." Damn, we all look like girls, save from Kongo-sensei, so why don't we simply use "she", "her" and other feminine pronouns?

Meh, I'd rather not question and go with the flow, I have a cover to maintain.

"That mouth of yours… Perhaps it's in need of an emergency operation," Rutile commented as they used Helio's hand to attempt to touch Phos' mouth.

Phos immediately backed away and used the notebook to cover their mouth.

"Ew! Don't use that hand!"

"I mean," they continued, bringing down the notebook, "I know Cinnabar walks every nook along the shore, but it's always night, right? Can Cinnabar even see anything? The rest of us are no good at night."

"Indeed," Rutile confirmed, "the rest of us feed off the sun and are not built for the night, which makes things dangerous. But Cinnabar…"

She paused for a moment.

"Cinnabar's endless silvery poison pulls in the faint night light and allows for patrols at night. But… the Lunarins have never shown themselves at night."

"What?" Phos asked. "Then why even have a lookout at night?"

"No matter how unlikely, that is Cinnabar's job. If you two do go out there, be careful."

"It's not like I want to go visit."

"Phos probably knows this already, but if any part of you comes in contact with the poison, light will no longer pass through it. It will have to be chipped off from you. And you will lose all the memories held within these chipped pieces," Rutile warned, showing the knee section piece of Helio.

"But that's just surface damage, right?" I asked. "Wouldn't it be superficial?"

"It all depends, young Danburite. Those memories that you lose could be next to useless or the most important pieces of information for something much bigger. Just be careful out there."

* * *

"Hey, you! Quit wasting time on that useless job of yours and help me discover something grand!"

"Wow, you'll let me help you, O Great Master Scholar?"

"Indeed."

"And just like that, I'll make Cinnabar my helper."

 _That was Phos talking to herself, imagining a conversation with Cinnabar._

"Hey," I asked out of concern, "are you okay? The job didn't drive you insane, did it?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," reassured Phos before they continued on with the self-talk.

"Then I'll finish the encyclopedia, make some grand discovery, earn everyone's admiration, and then everyone will realize that I must have what it takes to join the battle," she mumbled while slowly forming a smile.

"Eheheh…" I replied. _If she slips into insanity, I guess it'll be time for me to save her. No, them. Whatever._

"Oh yeah, that's it! Benito!" They suddenly shouted and turned round, startling a passing-by blue-short-haired gem behind us.

"Now I do believe your room is next to Cinnabar's," Phos asked with a fake, business-like-sounding tone. "Lead the way!"

* * *

"What's your deal?" the one Phos called Benito sighed, the three of us reaching a room with broken window shutters. Looking in, I could see that the room was completely empty, save from large puddles of a silvery liquid on the walls, floor, window seats…

"That one can't control the poison, you know?" Benito commented as I looked up and caught a glimpse of what seems like Red Beryl disappearing up the stairs.

"Maybe it was just too much to bear, but Cinnabar's been gone for a while now."

"Benito, are you sure it wasn't because you said something mean to my little helper?" Phos sighed as she-no, _they_ prodded into Benito while pointing at the blue-haired gem with both index fingers.

"Of course not!" was the reply, and I swore I could see Benito sweatdrop at the comment. 'Who do you think I am, you? And what do you mean, your 'helper'? Don't you already have that newbie as one already? Oh, right, sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Benitoite," they said with a smile as they offered their hand.

"Danburite, it's nice to meet you," I replied politely while shaking their hand. _So that's her full name, Benitoite. Benito reminds me of some Italian guy, but I can't recall- oh. Mussolini._ "Let's all get along together well."

"Sure. _You're new and you're already much less annoying than your three-half friend here,_ " I heard them mutter.

Benitoite sighed as she refocused her attention on Phos.

"Give up while you're ahead, Phos."

"Hm?"

"I know that, for Cinnabar, poison is like breathing for us, and that we have to stay away so as to not cause trouble. But still..." Benitoite looked down in shame.

"Just being near Cinnabar leaves me uneasy."

Phos looked down too, and I couldn't help but feel sad for Cinnabar too.

"Hey, wait," I said, suddenly thinking about something, "Benitoite, can I enter the room?"

"Oh, sure. But be careful not to touch the poison."

Entering the room, I immediately headed towards the nearest puddle of silver poison.

"Hey, Dan!" Phos called out. "What are you doing?"

"No big deal, just looking at this."

As I scrutinized the liquid, words began to run through my head, and my mind floated back into the past. A whirlwind of words consumed me.

" _Be careful while using the thermometers, if the thermometer breaks don't touch it! It's poisonous, you can die! Just 0.1 milligrams is enough for severe poisoning, and it can be absorbed through skin."_

" _This metal is unique in the way that it's in its liquid form at room temperature."_

" _Old clinical thermometers used this metal due to its responsiveness to temperature. In fact it was so responsive the thermometers were designed with a little bend to prevent the liquid from contracting too quickly so that the temperature could be accurately read after being removed from the patient's mouth. Nowadays for safety reasons thermometers use alcohol, but environmental thermometers still use this metal."_

" _The ancient people around China and Tibet thought this metal will give prolonged life and good health to anyone who swallows it. Emperor Qin, the very first emperor of China, ordered his alchemists to make him a pill to give him immortality so that he could rule all over China forever. The alchemists made the pill using this metal mixed with jade and gave it to him, and the Great Emperor took it. He died less than a day later. It is said that his tomb is surrounded by this same liquid metal that was supposed to make him live forever. Ironic, a pill supposed to give him eternal life killed him in less than a day."_

" _Miss! My thermometer broke!" "Don't touch it! I'll get the sulfur powder!"_

 _Touch it._

 _You clearly know what this is._

 _But you know you won't die._

 _You're now a gem._

 _It's only superficial damage you can chip off._

 _Come closer._

The sudden intrusive thoughts caught me during a daze, and I reached out without thinking.

 _Yes, come closer._

 _You've always wanted to know what it feels like, don't you?_

 _It feels slivery and nice._

 _Touch it._

 _Touch the mercury._

Wait, what? No!

My hand stopped just centimeters away from the mercury.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"DAN!"

I felt two hands grab me, and in an instant I was thrown out of the room.

"Wha?" I managed to utter as I slowly got out from my dazed state while sitting on the floor.

"Dan, you were about to touch the poison! Luckily I pulled you out just in time!" Benitoite shouted. "What took you over?"

"I… I don't know. Sorry," I apologized as I jolted myself out of the daze.

Benitoite sighed. "Just don't do that again, alright? If you feel like touching it, stop yourself. It's dangerous for all of us gems other than Cinnabar."

"Told you this newbie's a weird one," Phos chimed in. "Here, let me help you get up."

"Thanks."

As I stood up, I muttered to myself.

" _That's mercury for sure."_

"Mercury?"

 _Oops, Phos heard me. Damn my big mouth._

"It's nothing, it's nothing! Anyway, we're going to look for Cinnabar now?" I asked as I attempted to throw off the attention on me from the two other gems.

They stared at me.

"Eheh, what?"


	4. Chapter 4

_Four_

Hey, that actually worked. Somewhat, at least. Maybe even just temporarily, but it's still good enough.

Phos and I have now just the school and are barely away, off to look for Cinnabar.

"Cinnabar's a bother just by existing… who would have thought anyone could be worse than good-for-nothing me?" Phos mumbled to herself.

"Don't say that Phos, nobody's absolutely useless, just those that aren't doing what they're best at."

"I guess you're right, but I'm not sad with myself or anything. I just don't get why Cinnabar would even do a job no one cares about or is even concerned with. Not at all. Why not just quit?"

"Well, people do things that aren't necessary, but that's because they like it or that they want to. Maybe both. It's just the way we all think, we're unique like that."

"Hmm…" Phos thought.

* * *

After some time we've looked through the plains, a beach and we've just arrived off a cliff with a view of the Beach of Beginnings, as the other gems and Kongo-sensei called it.

Nothing here.

We went over to another small beach with a view of a large rock formation with an arch.

Nobody here either.

We headed over to the Beach of Beginnings.

"Nowhere to be found," Phos said.

"Come on," she muttered as we walked through the plains again, "help some Master Scholars out here. Cinnabar, where are you?"

I noticed a small puddle of mercury on the ground, and lying just beside it is a mercury-covered butterfly. It's dead for sure.

* * *

It's evening, and we've arrived on the cliff just left of the beach where I first woke up in this world. Phos stretched herself and made a noise. I don't know how to describe it, just stretch now and you'll naturally feel like making or already started making that noise.

"U-ah!" Phos dropped her arms and slouched over.

"If you aren't out of this cliff, that means you're either… out in the ocean and up in the sk-"

"Phos, look!" I pointed up to a black spot forming in the sky and increasing in the sky.

 _Oh no. They're here._

Before we could react, someone stepped in front of us and sent out a huge wave of mercury, blocking a barrage of arrows that would have hit us had the wave appeared just a fraction of a second later.

Phos and I fell backwards, landing on our backs.

In front of us was a red, long-haired gem.

The Lunarins fired another wave of arrows.

"Why would anyone come at twilight, I wondered, but of course it's you, Three-Half!" the gem shouted as they turned around while still blocking the arrows.

"And you've brought along a friend, a newbie!"

As the Lunarins came closer and lower, their arrows managed to send botches of mercury out from the wave, killing all life that they landed on.

"Damn…"

Neither Phos nor I could say anything.

"Now why? My breathing kills the grass and earth itself…"

"I don't want to ruin any more. I don't want to be seen anymore. Not like this…"

Phos and I continued staring in awe.

"I don't want to fight. I don't want to fight… I don't want to-"

Cinnabar suddenly yelped and puked out a great amount of mercury, to the shock of both Phos and I.

The wave of mercury collapsed, exposing all of us to the Lunarins as Cinnabar stopped vomiting, fell to their knees and slumped over.

But they got up.

And all the mercury got up with them, forming silver clone-like figures of their controller.

She wasn't happy.

"Cinnabar!" I heard Phos yell.

The Lunarins threw spears. _Oh, so I saw wrong earlier today, they were throwing spears instead of just solely firing bows and arrows._

 _Wait, there's no time for that! I gotta help out! But how? I'm helpless here._

The mercury Cinnabars charged forward as the spears rained down on them. From behind, a mercury shot threw the real Cinnabar up into the air. Cinnabar did a somersault midair, fell towards the top of the Lunarin cloud, and threw out a massive wave of mercury on top of all the Lunarins.

 _Oh, they're in for a_ _really_ _good time._

The whole blanket of mercury swept away and covered every single Lunarin on the cloud, even engulfing the main large Lunarin in charge. In a matter of seconds the whole cloud disintegrated as the mercury fell into the sea.

Along with Cinnabar.

 _Along with Cinnabar?!_

Cinnabar reached out for the cliff, but she slipped on her own mercury and lost grip.

She fell.

Phos got up quickly and lunged forward, reaching out her notebook for Cinnabar to grab on.

Cinnabar reached out.

She managed to grab onto the notebook and held on.

 _Phos' arms on the other hand didn't._

Phos stared in shock as I heard Cinnabar hit the water.

Silence for a second.

Phos got up and sat on her knees looking down at the spot where Cinnabar had fallen into.

A few seconds of silence as I saw Phos slump downwards.

"I never asked for help," Cinnabar said as she climbed the cliff from behind.

"Cinnabar…" Phos managed to mutter before she fell forward, off the edge.

"Phos!" I lunged forward, not caring about the mercury I've just hit, and managed to grab onto Phos' right shoulder.

Unfortunately I couldn't stop on the slippery mercury, and with the remaining momentum from when I launched forward with, I slipped and started to fall off the cliff too.

I felt someone grab my shoulders, pushing the both of us just back enough to prevent us from falling down.

Turning back, Phos and I watched as Cinnabar's arms snap into pieces and fall off.

"I'm the weakest out of all 28 of us. No, 29." Cinnabar stared at both of us.

"Hardness: 2."

 _That's weaker than Phos,_ I felt myself think before I suddenly blacked out.

* * *

Hey, where am I?

I'm in this white place. No, it's literally white everywhere, and it's not a room. Unending, extending white all around me.

 _Don't tell me this is the afterlife, am I dead?_

"Nah, no, this isn't the afterlife. Just somewhere I like to hold private talks in."

Spinning around, I saw a white tuxedo-dressed man looking at me with a smile.

 _Hey, that face looks familiar. Wait, it can't be…_

"Morgan Freeman?" I blurted out.

The man laughed.

"No, I'm not Morgan, what you see me as is what you usually perceive my looks as. You know, whenever you said your prayers you think about me, no? That's how you view me as, and that's how I look to you now."

 _Wait, that can't be._

I gulped. Or the gem equivalent of that. Probably gulped too.

"God?"

The man's smile widened.

"It's nice to meet you, Danburite. Or should I say, _**Nicole**_."


	5. Chapter 5

_Five_

Nicole. _Nicole._ I've not heard that name for a whole day, but even when mentioned it sent chills down my spine, or where my spine once was. Maybe because how that name was used to call me at the worst times of my life.

"So you are God."

"Yes," the man replied with a smile.

"Eh, can I ask you to show just a bit more evidence? I don't doubt you, I just want to-"

"-make sure you're really God and not just a potentially malicious entity," he finished with a smile.

I giggled a bit. "Well, that's one point up. Anything more though?"

"Yes of course, let's start right away. You're Nicole Tan, you live in Singapore, and you're born on December 8, 2001."

"Bingo," I replied, "carry on."

"Your favourite color is white, your cup size is A and you're somewhat clumsy."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Hold on, here comes the kicker. You're outcast from practically your whole school due to the lies of a single person you've accidentally offended, you're no longer able to defend yourself after constant repeated bullying for 2 years and your teachers don't seem to care, even going as far as to completely believe said bullies. Furthermore your parents only want your results and cane you up if you didn't hit over a B grade, the severity depending on how badly you're below, mostly very heavily because you always have a subject with an F, you've been mercilessly caned on stage in front of your whole school when the principal got too angry, stopped hitting just your butt and moved on to beat you everywhere over your body while everyone watched and nobody even attempted to stop him during a public caning for something everyone conspired to frame you for, and during the night of that day which that occurred and before you woke up in a new world you've seriously and severely considered attempting suicide for the first time after musing with the idea over the past 2 years, managing to heavily cry your eyes out before fatigue supposedly took over and you fell into a deep sleep. By the way, you were so upset the remaining tendons in your heart after two years of constant heartbreak actually all snapped in one go, causing your heart to be unable to pump blood properly. You didn't fall asleep while crying due to tiredness, you actually died crying your heart out."

"..."

I couldn't say anything as I looked at him in shock.

"You've never told anyone that you're getting increasingly suicidal, didn't you?"

My right hand grabbed onto my left shoulder as I began to feel depressed and started to slouch down. "No."

"As I've thought. Now, what I'm going to ask you would be difficult, but I need you to rethink about all the bad things that have happened to you over the last two years. Picture it strongly, please."

I hesitated for a moment.

"Trust me, I'm God."

"Alright."

As soon as I just turned the knob of my mental door, everything rushed out as said mental door burst open.

" _You bumped into me on purpose, don't deny that!" "It was a genuine accident! I'm really sorry!" "An apology won't work for me, I hold all my grudges. I'm going to ruin your life for the next 4 years, don't you dare forget that!"_

" _What a piece of sh*t you are, get away from me." "Alr-AH! Why did you punc-" "I SAID GET AWAY! I"M GOING TO BEAT YOU UP NOW YOU LITTLE DIPSH*T!"_

" _Nicole! How dare you copy Megan's homework!" "I really didn't! Maybe she copied mine!" "Liar! How dare you try to frame Megan! Go to the principal's office, NOW!"_

" _Here Nicole, time for a cold,_ refreshing _shower, here comes the bucket!" "NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE!"_

" _WHERE ARE YOUR RESULTS, YOU USELESS SACK OF GARBAGE?!" I felt a big slap. "YOU'RE A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING, MAYBE THIS CANING IS GOING TO WAKE YOU UP!"_

" _Miss, Nicole dropped the mallet! She dropped it so that it'll hit the principal so that he'll not meet her parents!" "That's not true at all! I'm nowhere near him whe-" "DON'T LIE YOUR WAY OUT! THE WHOLE CLASS SAW IT!"_

" _And so, the killer litter will be punished with a public caning as she's still unrepentant and insists she's not in the wrong. Students, I hope you'll never become anything like her in the future."_

" _Would you like to say a bit more before I start hitting you?" "I'm really not in the wrong, please belie-" "LIAR!" Smack, after smack, after smack. Immense pain. "THERE'S REALLY NO HOPE FOR YOU NOW, I'LL REALLY TEACH YOU A LESSON YOU'LL NEVER FORGET NOW!" Pushed out onto the ground. Turned around. The figure of the principal raising his long cane above me stayed for a split moment as I watched in horror before the massive onslaught of beatings on me._

" _SOMEBODY! HELP! HELP! IT HURTS, IT HURTS!"_

" _You deserved it. Now get out of my school before I drag you out." "Pleas-" "GET OUT!" He grabbed my collar. As I was unceremoniously dragged across the school hall, I heard my whole class cheer and clap as hot tears rolled down my cheeks._

" _HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO MURDER THE PRINCIPAL! HOW DID WE HAVE YOU AS A CHILD?! YOU NEED ANOTHER BEATING NOW!"_

" _I don't want to live anymore. Please, God, someone, take me away."_

" _Please."_

" _Please…"_

" _...ease…"_

Coming out of the torture from my memories, I found myself lying sideways on the ground, curled into a ball, sobbing uncontrollably, a puddle of tears forming around my face. I feel a massive pain from my chest, pain of my sorrow, pain of betrayal.

Heartache.

I'm no longer a gem. I'm no longer the newborn, reborn Danburite made out of rock. No longer the one who accompanied Phos along to complete her encyclopedia.

I am now Nicole. The outcast, betrayed, framed girl who lost all hope in life.

God bent down and gently pulled me upright. He brought me into a huge embrace.

"There, there. Cry your heart out, my child. It's not good keeping everything within, so take this time now to dump everything out. It's all over, it's fine now, I'm here and I've heard you."

I accepted his embrace, and truly cried my heart out for the first time.

* * *

"So, are you feeling better now?"

"Much better. Thank you."

"Ah, don't mention it, you are all my children after all. You just really need my attention," God replied while letting me go from his hug. "Told you letting it all out makes it much better, right?"

"Yeah, I feel amazing." The major crying session has somehow managed to heal emotional damages that had been present ever since the early years of those two years started. I feel much lighter, much more carefree, much more confident.

"I've never felt this great before, perhaps since the day before I entered secondary school. I forgot how being truly free feels like."

"That's why I got you to pour everything out, this is the first step to permanently repairing every emotional damage those two years have done to you. Now, ask me any questions, I'll answer everything. Oh, before that, sit down cross-legged, spreading out your legs like that will become really uncomfortable after some time."

"Alright," I said as I adjusted my sitting posture.

"Great, now you may begin."

"Why bring me into this new world?"

"That's for you to take a break from your world, also to give you time to heal yourself before I give you the choice of returning back to where you came from or staying here."

"Wait, didn't you say I died?"

"I did. I also made it in such a way that I can fix all your heart tendons, get you up and running in perfect health and get you back with one snap of my fingers. You're only dead for literally a nanosecond, mind you."

"So you stopped time in that world?"

"You can put it that way, or you can think that everything still spins and goes on alongside this world, and when I return you I'll turn back time in _that_ world and put you back in. Don't worry about your family, either way nothing will change."

"Nice. But why this world? Why this land of… the lustrous? This kingdom of gems?"

God laughed.

"You'll find out as time goes on, my child. Any more questions?"

"Oh wait, just one more."

"What is it?"

"Well, why send me here? As in, why send me away from my original world to heal emotionally heal?"

God laughed again.

"You tell me, why are you going to be unable to heal in your world?"

"Oh." That question pretty much answered itself.

"I'll just add on, though you already know this," God said, "but the way I do things, I don't give them immediately; I let the people earn them for themselves. If someone wishes for money, do I magically give them a whole stack of gold bars, or do I give them an opportunity for them to get a job? If someone wants to become famous, do I snap my fingers and all of a sudden he's a celebrity? If someone wishes for _herself_ to become happy again," God explained while looking into my eyes, "do I say 'poof' and make her feel better again, or do I help her by giving her the opportunity to heal herself while I intervene occasionally?" He finished with a smile.

 _Yep, that was a prayer I did sometime during those tough times._

"Yeah, I fully understand now, thank you."

"It's my pleasure, child. Anything else?"

"Nope."

"As I thought. Alright, I'll see you again soon, goodbye, you have a life to return to." Smiling, he snapped his fingers, and everything went dark.

* * *

As I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on the side seats of Rutile's corner. Turning my head left, I could see the doctor chipping off some parts of someone's legs, revealing green beneath the fake skin from the powder. _Oh, that's Phos._

"Doc?" I croaked out.

"Ah, you're awake. I've finished chipping off your contaminated spots and applied your powder. Not even a day and you've already damaged yourself," she sighed. "Oh well, anyway, don't worry about memory loss; like you've said, it's superficial." She smiled at me.

I returned the smile. "Thanks," I muttered before turning my head back upwards.

"You can lie that for a bit more, I'll be patching Phos up."

Staring into blank space, I could only think about my encounter with God while I was unconscious. His smile, whatever he's said, his purpose…

I raised my left hand. White. Pinching it with my other hand, I confirmed to myself that I was still a gem. Why? No idea, maybe because I thought I would be turned back into a human.

" _Ah well,"_ I muttered softly to myself, " _being a gem is great, too. I may not choose to return when the time comes after all."_

"Alright, I've chipped away all the contaminated spots," I heard Rutile tell Phos. Do you remember who I am?"

"A quack doc." I had to stifle my laughter, with Phos giggling after hearing me.

"Perhaps it was worse than I thought," Rutile said. Picking up one of their tools and preparing to stab Phos' leg, they stood up. "Let's carve that right out of you."

"Woah!" Phos jumped up and quickly curled back into a ball on the table. "An excellent doctor!" they corrected, giving a cheeky smile to the doctor.

"Well, that's the best I can do," Rutile said while they walked away.

"I've never had to be chipped before," Phos said as Rutile wrapped up Phos' contaminated spots placed on a piece of paper.

"Me neither," I added while remaining lying down.

"Have any of you forgotten anything?" Rutile asked.

"Nothing for me, I guess," I replied. "Well, maybe the boring parts while we were looking for Cinnabar other than that dead poisoned butterfly, but nothing more."

Phos curled up. "For me, I don't really know yet. But I definitely won't forget today…"

"Cinnabar didn't want to fight, but still saved the both of us."

"Indeed. Quite shrewd," Rutile said while pouring the contaminated pieces into a small container. "Unfortunately, the area there's now stagnant. The water, flora and fauna will be of no use for some time."

"Phos, the truth is… Cinnabar is incredibly bright and gifted, but because their touch brings ruin, we have no way of handling it. So we have forced Cinnabar out into the night."

" _Sulfur,"_ I thought to myself.

"Is that all we can do?" Phos asked.

"Rigorous, meaningful work is the best medicine against questioning one's place in the world. We cannot die, so we must simply face these problems as they are until we eventually find an answer. Or perhaps," Rutile leaned forward on the table, "you two'll find a place for Cinnabar for us? You're looking for a major discovery, are you not?"

Rutile held Phos' face and began applying powder.

"How are we supposed to do that? Even you and Kongo-sensei couldn't think of anything else, right?"

"Tell me, though, where did Cinnabar stay during the day?" Rutile asked.

"Nnnnnh, just sort of appeared when I went up that cliff to the north."

"The Cave of Emptiness?"

"Yeah, there, at just the right moment."

 _Cave of Emptiness, got it,_ I thought.

"The Cave of Emptiness is the most dangerous of locations and where Heliodor was stolen away from us. I can't imagine Cinnabar would stay there for long…"

* * *

I followed Phos out to the corridor, where she stared out into the open.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Oh, Phos, Dan."

"Hm?"

Turning to our right, I see a gem with white, rainbow-glowing hair.

"Dia…" Phos greeted.

 _So this is the Diamond they've been comparing me to, now that I look at it we do bear some resemblance._

"I'm glad to see you're well. Both of you," Dia began. Her hair reflected colors around us, shrouding all of us in a rainbow of beautiful colors. "Do be careful out there."

"Yeah," Phos said as I said "Alright," at the same time.

Dia turned back while Phos and I turned left. Looking at Phos turn her head back, then look down, I wondered what she was thinking.

"So," I asked, "that's Diamond?"

"Yeah. You see the resemblance too, right?"

"Yeah."

"Oh right, where do I go to now? I don't think I've been assigned to a room, have I?"

"You're right," Phos agreed, "Why not sleep in my room tonight?"

"No problem, thanks Phos."

"No problem. I'm still going to sleep on the bed though," Phos said with a cheeky grin.

"That's fine with me, window seats are fine with me. Also, is it fine that I tag along with you from now on?"

"Sure, you need to learn anyway, might as well teach you."

* * *

Phos stared at the tulip-like plant as she held it up.

I stared at that same plant.

"I don't know," Phos conceded, putting the plant down. "I guess I might as well jolt it down."

It's the start of a brand new day, and Phos has gotten up early to get more information for the encyclopedia. Of course, I tagged along.

"Hey," Cinnabar called suddenly from behind, starting both Phos and I.

"Mornin' Cinnabar," I greeted.

"Cinn...abar," Phos greeted nervously.

"Haven't you had enough already?" Cinnabar asked bluntly.

"Th-this is my job! I'm not here by choice!" Phos retorted. "And why are you even here again anyway? This is a dangerous place where we lost Helio, you know!"

"It is," was the reply from the red-haired gem. "And I…"

"Hm?" The both of us looked at Cinnabar.

"I'm just waiting here, for the day they come take me away."

 _What? Cinnabar is suicidal?_

The word "suicidal" reminded me about everything yesterday from my meeting with God. Now that I look at them, I can a bit of "Nicole" me inside Cinnabar.

"At least on the moon they might make use of me. I've been waiting, but they never come. Yet the second you two arrive they show up."

Phos and I stared on.

"Must be nice. Desired even by our enemy."

A green butterfly landed on Phos' hand.

Something in my heart stirred, and I without thinking I stood up.

"Don't say that, _idiot!_ What do you think the 29 of us would feel if you're gone? Sure some of them are uncomfortable with your poison, but deep down everyone loves you, treats you like family! You don't just disappear and nobody bats an eye, I for one will be the first to rush out and look for you! I'm not even a day old! Who gives two damns about your poison? That's what makes you special! None of us have anything leaking out of us, you're the only one with _mercury_ leaking out! Back in the time people _adored_ _your poison,_ going as far as to think taking it makes them _immortal,_ giving them eternal life with great health! Hell, one crazy emperor even had his tomb surrounded with that poison along with a massive terracotta army after he died from taking a pill made from jade and mercury! When that died down, they decided to use it as a means to record temperature, and guess what? It was _damn_ good at doing just that! So please, for God's sake, don't tell yourself that you're worthless! You never are, and never will be!"

Cinnabar looked shocked

"Dan…" I heard Phos say.

Regaining my composure and backtracking what I've just said, I realized that I really had said too much and lost too much confidence.

"Sorry. I'll be at the beach looking for more stuff," I quickly added before running down the cliff.

* * *

Just a few minutes later, Phos came down to me.

"Dan…"

"Sorry for just now, Phos. I've really said too much, didn't I?"

"No, not at all. You've said some weird things, but you're right. By the way, I've decided that I'll look for something for only Cinnabar to do so instead of the night watch."

"You've promised her?"

"Yeah, kinda," Phos replied with a sheepish grin.

I made up my mind on the spot.

"You know that I'll help you with this too, right?"

"Wha-"

"Yes, I insist that I'll help you on this. I don't want Cinnabar to be unhappy too, and you're better off with me helping you. Please?"

Phos stared in shock for a moment, before breaking into a huge smile and wrapping her arms around me.

"Sure thing, Dan! Thanks! By the way," she got out of the hug for a bit, "you've got to tell me about all those weird stuff you said."

"In time," I assured her, "but not now, so you gotta wait for a bit."

"Alright, thanks!"

"Woah, not so tight," I said before giggling and returning the embrace.

"Incredibly naive," I heard Cinnabar say from in front of me, behind of Phos.

"Well," I replied, "I was only born yesterday."

Cinnabar just turned around and walked away.

* * *

"Hey." Morganite called out.

"Is Phos all right?" Goshenite asked me, showing concern about a napping Phos.

 _Damn, it's still morning, how can they sleep already? Can't blame them for that though, I'm no different in school._

"What then?" muttered Phos. "What is it? What can only you do?"

I smiled at the other two gems. "She's fine, just taking a nap."

Wait, something's not right.

Oh, dammit.

"Hey, where's the notebook?"

Guess I'll look later, gotta stay with Phos.

"You big dummy," Phos mumbled in her sleep.

* * *

"I don't want you to go away," she mumbled again a few minutes later.

 **See? I told you I was thinking about a greater overall concept, didn't I?**


	6. Chapter 6

_Six_

Phos stared into the pond.

I stared into the pond.

It's been a few days since we talked to Cinnabar that morning, and things have changed since then. I've been formally introduced to all the other gems by Sensei, officially became Phos' helper for the encyclopedia and given a room of my own, just next to Phos' since Phos was the youngest before I showed up. Anyway, I've slowly adjusted to my new life, mostly tagging along with Phos since I feel the most comfortable around with them. I've also learnt to keep my mouth shut, so that I'll not spill my beans everywhere unnecessarily and cause a major commotion.

Oh, speaking of which, God visited me another time, this time in a dream the night of the day Phos and I made the promise to help Cinnabar find a better job. He suggested that I write a diary starting from the next day, so now I have a large and thick 800-page book serving as my diary in my room, complete with a lock for me to keep any prying eyes away if any gems happen to stumble upon it. Furthermore I was also gifted a fountain pen that utilizes ink cartridges to work, along with twenty of those said cartridges, all in black. A "starter pack", he says, and that if I were to need anything more, all I had to do was to ask him. I love using fountain pens, having bought one back in my past life and using it long-term.

Also, he schooled me on the type of gem I now am, which I find potentially useful as prior knowledge.

" _Danburite, first discovered in Danbury, Connecticut, USA by Charles Upham Shephard. Comes in colors such as white, gray, brownish white and straw yellow, you in particular happened to be white. Orthorhombic structure, vitreous-greasy lustre, white streak, Mohs hardness of between 7 to 7.5, poor cleavage of 001, brittle."_

" _Damn, that doesn't make me a great fighter, does it?"_

" _Well, although you're hard, you can shatter like glass. Just like you before I whisked you all the way here, right?"_

" _Tsk, guess that's somewhat true. Wait, if I'm brittle, how did I hold Phos up on that cliff?"_

" _You barely held on, child. Had you had a strong grip on the ground instead of slipping on the mercury your arms would have fallen right off. Rutile didn't tell you this, but there were decent cracks in both your arms."_

" _Oh."_

Anyway, back to the present. Phos and I are still staring into the pond. _What are we doing anyway?_

"Observing the jellyfish, are you? All for the encyclopedia I take it," I heard Jade say as she stopped to the right of Phos. Turning right, I noticed Euclase was with her.

"No, I just thought my reflection here looked so adorable."

"What?" I stared at Phos incredulously as the other two gems resumed walking behind us.

I saw Phos smirk in reply, and they almost immediately turned around.

"I'm kidding!" They shouted as the green-haired gem lunged forward, grabbing Jade's legs to the surprise of both them and Euclase.

"Isn't it obvious? We're at a loss here!"

"Be careful, you idiot!" Jade shouted.

"Seriously, I can't think of anything, Speaker Jade!" Phos whined as Jade fell down. "Even Dan hasn't had anything in mind either! We need some ideas..."

Sitting up, Jade looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded my head in agreement. "Mind blank," I said, putting my clenched hand beside my head and opening it out as a random gesture. "Poof."

"Huh?"

"Oh," I said as I put down my hand, "it's nothing, it's nothing!"

"Hmm." Jade stared at me for a moment. "Anyway, what kind of idea?"

"I can't tell you," was the reply from Phos.

"Then how am I supposed to know?"

"I'm gonna go crazy from all this overthinking..."

"About what?!"

Phos stopped shaking around and just simply held onto the Speaker's legs.

"I should never have said anything…" she muttered.

I understood who and what Phos was worried about. Cinnabar. The red gem's future better job Phos and I had promised for them.

I still could vividly remember that day, whatever happened, whatever I've said.

" _What do you think the 29 of us would feel if you're gone? Sure some of them are uncomfortable with your poison, but deep down everyone loves you, treats you like family! You don't just disappear and nobody bats an eye, I for one will be the first to rush out and look for you! Who gives two damns about your poison?"_

" _So please, for God's sake, don't tell yourself that you're worthless! You never are, and never will be!"_

" _You know that I'll help you with this too, right?"_

" _Well, I was only born yesterday."_

"Would it be possible to forget about the other day and start with a clean slate?" I heard Phos mumble.

"Hey, don't say that, that'll be pretty irresponsible. I'm in this together with you too, don't forget I'm backing you up."

"Hey," Jade interrupted, "I have no idea what you two ar-"

"Jeez!" Phos suddenly shouted. "I'm going to start to hate this if I have to think about it anymore…" the blueish-green gem slowly faltered as they released their grasp on Jade and laid down on their side.

"Eheheh…" I looked at Phos in slight worry as I gave a little exasperated smile, feeling myself sweatdrop.

"Perseverance is the key to discovery," a familiar, mentor-like voice spoke as the figure of a large, bald man appeared from behind.

"Sensei…" we all greeted as Jade and Euclase turned to face him.

"I will be in the main hall. Report to me if anything arises."

Jade quickly got up and stood in attention. "Understood!"

"Hehe, off for a nap, sensei?" Phos jokingly asked, earning a stare of disbelief from the green gem.

"It is called meditation," Kongo-sensei replied. "Now take care not to do anything rash," he added, while walking closer and putting his hand on Phos' head.

"O-"

"Understood?"

"Yeah," was the reply while Phos turned away.

Shifting his attention to me, he lifted his hand from Phos and did the same to me.

"You too."

"Got it."

As Kongo-sensei walked away, all of us watched.

"Now then," Jade started while looking at Phos, "back to work."

"Nnnnnn…" was the reply from Phos.

Jade let off a small huff. "What's your problem?"

Phos just kept on, uh, humming? Whining? Ah, hum-whining! Eh, I don't know, so let's just stick to that.

"I'm asking you a question!"

I watched Phos, moving her shoulders around on the spot. Like a nervous kid unable to tell an adult something?

"Fine," Jade sighed and collapsed her shoulders a bit, "so you're having trouble coming up with some sort of idea, is it?"

"Yup," Phos replied as a hammer approached from behind Jade.

 _Wait, a hammer?_

"Jade, look ou-"

I tried to warn her, but it seems like it was a bit too late.

Ding!

Jade let out a squeak in pain as Rutile hit the green gem on her arm, the "ding" from the vibrations reverberating around the area.

Rutile listened to the sound with her eyes closed, then opened her eyes as Jade whimpered.

"What's the big idea?!" she snapped at the doctor as the white-coated gem put her hammer back behind her.

"Just an impact test."

Jade, clearly angry, lunged forward, hands up in the air. Rutile grabbed them and the two gems began to push each other.

"I am carrying out our regular 100 year durability inspection," the doctor explained as she overpowered Jade. "While I can examine your hardness with just a touch, durability depends on a complicated system of factors such as your gem structure and cleavage," they added as Jade pressed forward, the two gems switching postures before centering with an even match. "I want to use you as a higher reference value-"

"At least ask me first!"

"Yes, quite sorry," Rutile sarcastically replied as they continued pushing.

Phos popped out from in between them from Jade's right, opposite me.

"I don't really get it…" she said, tilting her head in a cutesy manner.

"Now if you would..." Rutile said, suddenly releasing Jade and making the green gem fall to the ground. Brandishing her hammer, Jade was hit again by Rutile, this time on her right knee.

Ding!

"Hiih-! A-a-a-ahhh-"

"My, my… You sure are sturdy, Jade! The very sound is different! You are undoubtedly top-class."

"Why you good-for- Wu-AH-AH-AH!"

Rutile had sat on Jade's legs while bending the wrong way, certainly would have broken some bones if Jade were a human.

"I… I give…!"

"Top-class indeed," Rutile declared, releasing Jade from her uncomfortable posture.

Phos stretched her arm out and closed her eyes.

"Oh, you're fine," Rutile said. "I already know you're the bottom rung."

Phos stared at Rutile in mild anger.

"You, on the other hand…" Rutile mused, turning towards me.

"Uh… Uhhh…"

"Come closer, Danburite. You're in for a ride," they said with a smirk.

I started backing towards Phos.

"Just kidding," they quickly added, seeing how terrified I probably looked. "You're a new one, so I'd be gentle. Come to think of it, we don't even know your hardness yet. Come here, it'll just be small touches," they assured me as they brandished their hammer.

I stood still for a moment, not sure whether to trust the doctor.

"Trust me, come closer."

Reluctantly, I offered Rutile my left arm, and the doctor proceeded to tap the hammer on me while the others watched.

Tap.

She listened closely.

"Hey, that's unfair!" Jade complained

"Oh, give the new gem a chance," Rutile retorted.

Tap.

This went on for a while, with increasingly-harder taps. Phos stared intently at me. I noticed that when I turned my head around, so I gave them a reassuring smile.

"Alright, done with the hardness. Seven and a half."

"What?!" Phos shouted in disbelief.

"That's harder than me…" Jade commented in awe.

"That's right, Danburite here is as hard as Euclase here. Now, for durability. Do you trust me, Danburite?"

"Well, yeah."

"Good, you've seen Jade in pain, so brace yourself."

Clenching my mouth shut, I nodded as Rutile brought the hammer down on my arm, remembering God's words about me.

Cue the sound of a hard whack, the sound of shattering, the thump of an arm hitting the ground and more shattering.

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"**_

* * *

"Very brittle, Danburite. That's got to have hurt a lot, didn't it? You screamed so loud everyone heard you and Sensei actually woke up. Impressive."

"Eheheh…" I muttered while blushing.

"I understand though," Rutile sighed as she put the fragments of my disconnected arm back together, "this must be your first time breaking, correct?"

I nodded.

"Well, you'll probably get used to it, the quicker you break the less painful it is. That being said, you're hard but really brittle, so you'll probably not going to be fighting anytime soon, just like the three-half sitting beside you."

Phos pouted. "That's mean, you quack." They was holding my right hand, earlier on to ease my pain and now just because Phos refused to let off. "You're all right now, right?"

I nodded my head. "Pain stopped. Thanks for coming along with me, Phos."

"Here, let me reconnect your arm," Rutile said as she placed my arm back, connecting with the rest of my body with a crack.

I winced as a sharp pain suddenly shot up from where my arm broke off, which suddenly disappeared a moment later. Moving my now-reconnected arm, I was assured that it was fine now.

"Hold on, let me apply powder to the cracks."

"Ah, right," Jade said, "that reminds me. If you two are looking for something new, Diamond has been using some fighting techniques lately. I'm impressed they could come out with something like that."

"A new way to fight?" Phos asked.

"Makes sense," I said, "battle tactics do change over time. New ones come up, old ones are replaced and vice versa."

"Wow, a good smack is all that it took to get that out of you!" Phos exclaimed to Jade as they stood up, still holding my hand.

"Woah!" I stood up quickly before any of our arms could snap off. "Watch it!" I heard Rutile shout.

"This and that are completely irrelevant!" Jade shouted.

"Right! Forget ol' Jade, I should be talking to Dia instead! You're right, I was asking the wrong person. Thank you!"

"I'm the second hardest one around here, I'll have you know!" Jade retorted.

"Third now," I said with a smirk under a sudden wave of mischief, "I beat you by 0.5."

"At least I'm not as brittle," Jade replied with an equally mischievous air and a sense of superiority.

"But come on," Phos chimed in, "forget durability, it's combat ability that's way cooler!"

Jade slumped back, seemingly agreeing.

"Anyway! The Diamond group is out on patrol now. Don't you go bothering them."

"Alright, you're good to go," Rutile told me.

* * *

And of course Phos insisted that we bother them, so here we are, in the plains.

"Hey Phos, tell me again, why are we prowling around in the bushes like tigers?"

"Tigers?"

"Eh, I'll tell you about them next time. But why are we prowling around?"

"So that we can do this," Phos replied with a mischievous grin as they suddenly pounced forward. "Dia!"

A small yelp coming from neither Phos nor I, and I felt a thump as someone fell onto the ground.

"Huuh?!"

Getting up, I saw Phos grabbing onto Dia's right leg, both of them lying on the ground.

"What are you doing, Phos?" Dia asked. "You could have gotten hurt," she added as she sat up.

I squatted down and was about to ask both Phos and Dia whether they were fine, but I was mesmerized by the beautiful colors reflected off Dia's hair.

 _So beautiful,_ I thought to myself as I hypnotically stared at the literal diamond in front of me.

"Phos?" I heard Dia ask. Snapping out of my trance, I turned my head right and noticed that Phos had covered her face with both of her hands.

"Your mere existence is blinding," Phos said. "I'm so strapped for ideas that I feel like I might crumble to pieces."

"Phos," I softly chided, "don't be rude to Dia. You just inadvertently implying that you'd rather have Dia disappear, and we don't want that, do we?"

"It's fine, Dan," Dia reassured, "Phos didn't mean it."

"Ah, alright," I replied as they got up.

Something about that sweet girl tugs on my snapped heartstri- _wait, what am I thinking?_

"Please bestow upon us some guidance," Phos said.

"What sort of ideas?"

"I can't tell you that. Just give me an idea on how to get ideas!" Phos pleaded, lunging herself forward and hugging Dia's legs.

"Now that's a difficult request!" Dia commented. "You too, Dan?"

I smiled and shrugged in reply.

"Hmm, let's see…" Dia wondered.

"Why not start by changing from within?"

"Huh?" was the reply from Phos.

"You could try doing things you don't normally do, yes?" Dia suggested as she gently shooed Phos away from her legs. _Those slender legs… Ugh, snap out of it!_

Phos continued staring at Dia's legs.

* * *

"Phos, stop playing with Dia's stockings."

"It's fine, it's fine," Dia replied as Phos stopped and sat back.

"Constantly, I think to myself that I would like to be reborn," Phos said.

"UWAAA! The whole reason I'm asking for some help is because that's impossible!" she exclaimed, while turning around and curled into a squatting ball. "Do you know how long I've spent lazing about? I guess a hardness level of 10 could never get level with me."

 _Be careful what you wish for, Phos,_ I thought. _Change is nice, but too much change isn't. I love the way you are now, you're like a dancing flame on a candle in the middle of the night._

No, this isn't romantic.

"Phos…" Dia said softly.

"I'm disappointed, Dia. This got me nowhere! It was completely pointless!"

"Hey, watch it, don't be rude," I chided softly again. Turning around, I gave Dia an apologetic smile, which she returned with an "It's alright" look.

"It was? Sorry then… Look, now I've gone and made you mad," she said as she approached and touched Phos. "See, I have many shortcomings myself. Do forgive me."

Phos didn't move. I was about to really get Phos to apologize for being so rude.

"Phos." Dia said while grabbing Phos up, still in that balled position, "Pretty please?" she asked as they hugged Phos from behind.

I lost any little anger I had with Phos and could only stare at the both of them, less in awe with Dia's strength and more with her personality. _Who is this angel? Did God send her down as my second guardian after Phos?_

" _I sent no angels down here, child. Diamond's just a really sweet gem."_

Drat, he heard me.

"Very well then," Phos muttered, "but only this one time."

While putting Phos down, I stood up. Dia rolled up her stocking that Phos had rolled down and asked Phos something, but I didn't listen as I had yet fallen into another trance while looking at Dia.

 _Those long, slender legs with those thigh stockings, those long gloves covering her hands and arms, cute butt, sweet face, beautiful rainbow-glittering hair, docile and sweet personality. Yes, I'm white too, but I don't have that rainbow-colored reflecting glitter and I'm nowhere as bright as she is. Yeah, I think I'm starting to fall in love with her. If she exists in my school then she'd probably be the only friend I had. Hell, had I been a boy I'd have- wait, what?_

" _You better get out of that soon, you're missing quite some stuff. Also, of course she's beautiful, all of you gems are as a matter of fact. Just snap out of it now, alright?"_

I gave myself a few mental slaps and got out of my daydream, feeling myself blush.

"-expect me to believe that when you're both diamond-class? Want me to tell Bort off real tough-like for you?!" I managed to catch onto what Phos was saying.

"Oh, well..." Dia said, preparing to unsheath their sword.

"Oh. Th-that may be a tad overboard," Phos corrected themself.

But Dia probably wasn't mad at them. How do I know? I was looking at the same thing Dia was staring at.

"Dia's not mad at you, Phos, just look back!"

Phos turned around just as Dia ran past them.

They caught onto the black sunspot, as the gems called it, that Dia and I had saw, growing in size.

Dia went into position.

"Oh boy," I muttered, "here we go again."


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright, author here, I'll just say that I'm only developing the fanfiction this quickly because I'm both on a roll and have time. When school starts next week or so for me (I'm a student), I'll most likely be unable to be this fast anymore.**

 **Anyway, without further ado, Chapter 7.**

 _Seven_

I watched the appearing Lunarins, some of them playing music. Flutes and drums mainly. _Wait, music?_

"Hey, Phos, why are the Lunarins playing music?"

"I don't know either, maybe because they're throwing a party while hunting?"

"Maybe. Or they're just arrogant pricks. Either way that's not the point, they're firing!"

The Lunarins aimed their bows and spears, firing an entire wave at Diamond.

 _Hey, they're using spears instead of arrows? That's new to me._

Diamond twirled around and blocked the spears with their sword. Although some spears hit their arm, they didn't shatter. Instead, Diamond threw the spears stuck in their sword upwards, sending them _flying back to the Lunarins._

That were direct hits, I could see multiple Lunarins disappear in a puff of vapour.

"A… Amazing!" Phos started shouting enthusiastically while jumping. "You knocked them right back! You're something else, Diamond!" she exclaimed while running towards Dia.

"No…" Dia stopped the blueish-green gem.

"This isn't over."

Looking up, I could see new Lunarins rise to their feet, almost immediately throwing their spears towards us.

Specifically, Diamond. They don't seem to care about either Phos or I.

Dia swung their sword again, blocking yet another wave or spears. However, under the impact, the sword began to break. It didn't break into two and fall off, but the sharp section of the blade has been damaged to the point where it had caved in.

"Huh?" I heard Phos utter.

Dia swung her sword back, sending the spears back to the Lunarins again.

More Lunarins were gone.

"What are they…?"

More spears were thrown.

"Just a bit more." Dia told themself, then throwing the spears back at the Lunarins yet again.

More Lunarins disappeared.

Another time.

This time though, when Dia was hit, I could hear a loud ringing sound.

Tinnitus? Do gems suffer from that? Probably not. Where have I heard that ringing sound though? It feels so recent.

"Dia. What's that sound?" I heard Phos utter.

"Don't worry," was the reply. "The usual technique just isn't holding up. No need to fret."

Another wave of spears were thrown.

Dia swung her sword back…

… and promptly threw it away, leaving their arms open for impact.

'Whoa! Dia!" I blurted out.

The sword landed bladefirst behind us, sticking out of the plains.

"Huh?" Phos uttered as both them and I turned back.

And both of us were promptly grabbed and thrown forward.

"Dia?!" That was Phos.

"Run!" Dia ordered.

"Dia!"

Dia looked back.

We looked back at them.

Phos turned around to look at me just as I did the same.

Without warning, Phos got up and began running towards Diamond.

"Dia!"

"Phos!" I got up and started chasing her. _If Dia couldn't take those hits without breaking, Phos certainly won't! Idiot, don't! I don't want to go back crying after losing you two!_

The spears got closer.

Phos was still running, and I was still chasing her.

Dia looked at the spears.

Which were _promptly stopped by another blade._

Huh?

Phos and I stopped running.

Throwing the spears back to the Lunarins, the newly-arrived gem landed in front of Dia. Black, long hair. Dia seemed really pleased.

The gem jumped up towards the cloud, and promptly sliced the big Lunarin straight down from the center.

"Wow," I uttered.

But the fight wasn't over yet. One Lunarin aimed its bow at the black gem. They threw their sword, managing to headshot the Lunarin, but the arrow _(oh, the arrows were double-tipped, like a trident without its center tip. I'm an idiot, damn)_ has already left the bow.

No matter though, as the gem managed to dodge it.

As the gem began to land, Phos and I walked towards Dia.

We watched as the black gem landed on the water.

'Amazing, right?" Dia began. "This is how it always is. Bort's gotten so strong lately; doesn't even let me fight." She turned back and walked a bit.

"All of us in the diamond class have the maximum hardness level of ten. But there are two classes of durability among us. I may be hard, but fragile under impact. Bort is special though," she explained as she went to retrieve her sword.

"Not a monocrystal like me. With a body made from a synthesis of mycrocrystals, even when hit from the weakest angle, the shock does not travel throughout the body. Which leaves Bort in a special class entirely. The hardest and most perfect among us."

"I am the one who truly wishes to change," Dia finished, grasping their sword. "I wish I could be strong like that."

"Strong like Bort?!" Phos exclaimed. "No way! I don't care how strong that is, that's so creepy!" She hugged herself and quivered. "Our kind, little Dia is much better," they added on, reaching out to place a hand on Dia's shoulder.

Dia turned around and smiled. I could only watch from where I stood from, I have no right to join in, in absolutely any way.

"But you know…"

"Huh?"

"A weak diamond is no diamond at all," Dia said, while trying to pull out their sword. So Bort is the only true diamond," they concluded, pulling the sword out of the ground.

 _Not true, Dia. People usually yearn diamonds mostly because of their beauty and ability in fashion, like how beautiful you are. Industrial diamond in construction industries may be brittle, but they get the job perfectly done. So, no, you are perfect the way you are._

"It's true," Diamond continued, not hearing my thoughts at all. "But… sometimes… I think that if only if it weren't for Bort…"

"What?" That was Phos.

"Right?" Dia said, giggling a bit as she looked at Phos. "it crosses my mind… despite how much I love Bort."

 _Love?_

They giggled. "It's terrible, isn't it?"

"Can't live with them or without them…" Phos wondered.

 _Is Phos thinking about Cinnabar?_

"Do you understand what I mean?"

"No, I-"

"Find a word to describe this feeling, then."

"What? Why?"

"We wouldn't have to worry as much if we could describe it, right?"

I felt Bort pass by me.

"Your encyclopedia is supposed to categorized things, isn't-"

Bort grabbed Dia's right arm and turned her around.

The white diamond gasped.

"Bort…" Phos muttered.

Bort then proceeded to _break Dia's arm off, taking it along with her glove_.

"No!"

Dia stumbed back, a bright light coming from the cross-section of their arm, just before/after the arm ankles, along with that ringing sound. It soon died down, leaving the signature diamond look inside.

 _Oh, right, Jade made that sound when Rutile hit them with that hammer._

Phos looked at Bort in shock, while I sprinted towards them.

"That sound from earlier," Phos said, "that was it, wasn't it?"

"I'm sorry, Phos, Dan, for putting you two in danger like that…"

"I thought I could handle it…"

"Why, you…" Bort began to shout.

"First you disappear on me and then I find you testing your weird fighting style out here!" they shouted as they forcefully grabbed Dia. "I am sure I _told_ you your body can't handle it! What were you thinking?!"

Dia looked terrified.

"Well…" they began, looking down, "The way you're always the one protecting me, it's just not right! I'm a diamond too! But if I can't do anything myself…"

Dia closed her eyes, using her other hand to hold onto her remaining arm section.

"... what's the point of me even being here at all?"

"What a load of nonsense!" Bort yelled back.

"Listen up, Bort!" Phos had crawled behind Dia and just in between her legs. "Stop picking on Diamond!" they said, before moving downwards, spreading out Dia's legs and popping their head in between them.

Dia yelped and blushed.

"Boom!" Phos said.

"O-okay, see, I just happened to run into Phos here and tried to lend a hand!" Dia explained while Bort roughly released their grip on Dia, threw her arm downwards and unsheathed her sword. "I don't know what for exactly, but Phos was trying to come up with some new idea, you see…"

"Yeah, yeah!" Phos confirmed.

"Do you think you may be able to help, Bort?" Dia asked.

Bort put her sword back and stepped back. "Yeah."

"No way!" Phos shouted in excitement.

But Bort hooked onto Phos' tie using the scabbard of the sword, pulled her forward and held her up.

"Haphazard assistance will never solve your problems," Bort said as they threw Phos roughly on the ground along with the scabbard.

Bort, now sword unsheathed, raised it up, preparing to strike.

"Allow me to obliterate your worries altogether."

Bort pulled back.

"Bort!" I heard Dia shout as I automatically rushed forward.

With my both hands, I clapped the blade in between my palms and pushed back.

I didn't care whether my palms will fragment.

I don't give a damn about whether it hurts.

"Watch it. If you want even just a piece of Phos' hair," I said before throwing the sword back as hard as I can, "you'll have to get through me first! Know your damn limits! Phos may be three and a half, but this _seven and a half_ will protect her! Pick one closer to your size, can't you?!"

Bort reeled back in surprise.

 _I just want to protect Phos._

Before anything could proceed further though, Bort looked up in shock, completely ignored the three of us and ran off, putting the sword back in its scabbard.

Turning round, Phos, I and Dia looked up. A Lunarin cloud was headed towards.

We could only stare as it covers us in its shadow.

But the Lunarins completely ignored us and headed towards the school.

 _Wait. Oh no, the school!_

I started to run, but Dia grabbed my shoulder. "Look at that," pointing her broken arm towards a large glowing object on the cloud. "That's too big to be a halo… They're right above the school though, so I'm sure Sensei will-"

"Sensei's meditating," I thought out loud.

"Uwa!" Phos shouted, coming to the same conclusion. "Yes, Sensei's taking a nap," they reaffirmed.

"Huh?"

"What?" Bort gasped along with Dia.

"This…"

"...is bad," they finished.

* * *

 **Before I end this, I'd like to clarify something, just in case. Danburite switches between using "she" and "them" occasionally because she/they hasn't quite grasped the concept of the gems being genderless (all of them look like girls anyway, Sensei's the only definite male). Just pointing out that that's intentional.**

 **Alright, lights out.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello there, sorry for the late update. With that said, I'll still try to push out new chapters as quickly as possible.**

 _Eight_

 _So the Lunarins are directly attacking the school with something large, and Sensei's meditating._

 _Ah, perfect. We're all gonna be taken to the moon now for sure._

As the four of us sprinted towards the school, we saw the Lunarins drop that large "thing", which resembles a grossly oversized snail's shell, towards the open corridor, before maintaining their position over the building.

The shell hit the pond, bounced up and rolled on the ground before falling onto its side, startling two gems just beside it..

Dia and Phos jumped onto one of those floating grass patches, while I took my place on one of those behind.

Wait, is that Jade and Euclase?

Yep, it's them.

"Jade! Euc! Above you!" Dia shouted, alerting the two gems to the hovering Lunarins ahead.

"When did they get there?" I heard Jade mutter.

Bort had already rushed forward, jumping up from the shell and towards the cloud.

"Bort's here, huh. Guess we don't have to worry," Jade said, visibly relaxing.

"Jade!" Euc replied.

"Right, sorry."

As Dia watched along with them, I raised my eyebrow at Phos, who has resorted to hiding behind Dia for some reason.

A "What?" look was what I got in return.

"Phos," Diamond called while she grabbed the blueish-green gem's shoulders.

"Huh? Whoaaaaaaa!" Phos cried out as Dia threw them forward. "I'm sorry!" was the reply from Dia as they brandished their sword and jumped up, attempting to join Bort.

Phos slammed into Jade flat front as I stood rooted, unsure of what to do.

"You again!" Jade shouted at Phos.

"It's not my fault!"

"Dan…" Euclase called out.

"Huh?"

"Don't stand there, come over. Those two will settle things well."

"Oh, alright," I replied as I hopped over those grass patches and landed on the corridor.

It was just a short while before I noticed the cloud disperse. Both of them had finished the job, I thought.

"Things are completed between those two, I thought I told you two not to get in their way!" Jade somewhat "reprimanded" both Phos and I.

"'Complicated', Speaker?" I heard myself say without thinking. "That ain't complicated, that's toxic! Bort's so mean towards Dia!"

"You may be right, but we can't judge, Dan," Jade said, toning it down with a sigh. "Toxic or not we still have no right to interfere. Anyway, that aside, well? Did you two ask Dia?" they resumed their stern tone. "Are you two making progress on that encyclopedia?"

"Master Scholar, just who I was looking for!" Euclase joined in, referring to Phos. It seems that the gems in general still give me some leeway in terms of slacking away, perhaps since I was barely a few days old.

"And what do you need?" Phos played along with a deeper voice along with a thinking pose.

"That there," Euclase said, pointing to the shell. Do find out what it is."

"Right, Dan and I were quite busy, you see," Phos replied, completely dropping her deeper voice.

"The fact that it's still here after the Lunarins have vanished would suggest that it's not from the moon," Euc commented. "This could be a great discovery!"

"Wonderful!" Phos energetically replied, pointing both her fingers at Euc while still holding onto Diamond's broken-off arm and glove. "And I leave that possibility in your hands!"

"Oh, but I am unworthy!"

"It's all yours!"

"My shoulders could not bear the burden!"

"Now listen," Jade chimed in, "take this seriously and do it right." She began to walk away.

"Do let me know when you finish," Euc added, following Jade.

"Wait," Phos asked, "are you serious? No, seriously, I don't have time for this!"

"Come on Phos, it's our job," I replied. Wait, did I hear something behind?

I turned around. Nothing different. But wait, did the shell move?

"...oh." I heard Phos mutter while I kept my eyes on the shell. That's how it happens in movies, right? Look at something that may move and it won't move, right?

 _Wrong._ The shell began to tip over.

"Woah! Phos, Phos! The shell's entering the pond!"

"Heeeeeeeeey!" Phos yelled at the leaving Jade and Euclase. "I have pressing matters to attend to!"

"Like running away from that thing?" I squeaked as a snail-like creature crawled out of the shell, covering both of us in its shadow.

Phos looked up, seeing the creature directly right above them.

 _Oh no!_

"Phos!" I shouted as I attempted to shove her away.

It was too late.

The creature had swallowed up Phos whole, leaving behind only Dia's glove and arm.

"You're kidding!" I heard Euc say as I stood rooted, paralyzed in complete terror.

But the creature ignored me, instead focusing on someone else behind.

Turning around, I noticed Euclase, brandishing their sword, slice the snail's head in half.

"It broke… No…" I heard Euclase say, holding a now-shortened-to-dagger-length sword.

"No." I uttered while looking at their blade. "Melted."

Suddenly, Euc was swept out of the way by someone. That was Jade, I noticed while I looked up.

"Jade! Your leg!" I heard Euc shout. "Your leg is melting!"

Now, the creature has turned its attention to me.

I couldn't move.

I really couldn't move as the creature hovered its head over me.

 _Is this my end?_

 _Is this where I join God permanently?_

Apparently not, as Bort jumped down and sliced the creature.

"Get out of there newbie! Now!"

Regaining my control over my body, I instinctively ran off as fast as I could.

I ran.

It wasn't until I realized that I've ran too far away that I made myself stop and turn around.

"Where are you, you runt?" I heard Bort call out, noticing them staring at the snail before jumping down and using their hair to slice the creature.

It didn't work.

 _What kind of coward are you?_ These thoughts…

 _Haven't you ran away enough, Nicole?_

 _Look where it led you back as a human!_

 _I thought you had some form of courage left when you shielded Phos from Bort. Now I see that you're just a coward trying to act brave._

I felt a wave of anger well up inside me.

 _Oh come on, you know you're not a coward, if you're insulted by that maybe you should prove it._

 _Go on, be a hero._

 _Please, bring Phos back._

The last thought spurred me on enough, and I sprinted back.

"Newbie! What do you think you're doing?! You can't fight!"

I charged ahead, ignoring Bort's shouts. Now's not the time, Phos needs me.

"Danburite!"

Almost there.

With a yell of anger, I prepared to slam myself into the creature's body.

"GIVE ME BACK MY PHOS, YOU MONSTER!"

"DANBURITE! _STOP!"_

I felt someone tackle me, throwing me onto the ground.

"This isn't the time to play hero!" Bort shouted as they brought me up a pillar, out of reach from the creature.

"Hey, runt! What's going on in there?"

The creature crawled away.

"If you're only going to wait and hope things go your way…" I heard Bort mumble, "you're better off just giving up."

No response.

However, something started forming on the shell.

No, some _things_.

Multiple cracks filled with Phos' green had started to form.

Looking around, it seems like Dia has noticed it too.

"Hmph, no response? What a both-"

"Bort!" I called out, "Look!"

"It's Phos!" Dia joined in, "Phos might have found something!"

The snail swung its tail onto the pillars, prompting the two diamond-class gems to jump off and land on another pillar, Bort dragging me along.

"Phos…" Dia muttered.

"Phos!" they shouted. "Are you in there?"

The snail attacked again, but this time we only headed upwards of the same pillar.

The snail saw their actions, and managed to intercept them with a hit.

Flying backwards, the three of us landed on another pillar.

"Newbie! Watch for yourself!"

"Hu-WHAAAAAA?!"

Without warning, Bort launched me away from the scene, sending me towards the ground in an increasingly-steeper gradient as I lost forward speed.

Covering my face and upper torso in a bracing position, I landed arms-first, instantly shattering them before rolling a couple of times, stopping face-up.

Hearing a large roar, I tilted left. Both Bort and Diamond had somehow managed to trick the snail into striking itself, in particular one of the green spots of the shell.

I saw Dia lunge forward towards the snail. "Don't do it! Stand back!"

Dia still continued charging, sliding on the snail's long tail before jumping up and striking the center portion of green spots, which happened to run down the entire shell's center.

Something spurt out (presumably some of the creature's internals, ew), the creature cried out one last roar of pain and rolled backwards.

Bort caught Dia just before the shell rolled straight into the pond, sinking.

"I told you to stand back!" I heard Bort shout.

Struggling to get up, I rolled and rested on my chest, slowly pulled myself into a kneeling position before finally being able to get up.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Oh, is it more Lunarins?"

"Looks like things are settled already."

"I didn't even get to see them! Why didn't the bell go off like usual?"

Those were various gems looking from upstairs that I heard as I walked towards Dia and Bort.

Taking my place beside Dia, I noticed Jade and Euclase rush up.

"So it's just some type of snail then," Bort commented, staring at a creature crawling up one of the floating grass patches. "It shrivels up in salt water, just like you'd expect."

"Heaa?" I heard the creature say.

"This would all have been so obvious," Bort continued, "but thanks to that imbecile, we wasted our time and energy here."

"B-but thanks to Phos, we pinpointed its weak spot," Dia said. "I'm sure a little credi-"

"Who deserves credit?!" Bort shouted. "When Phos gets back, there's going to be a beat-down."

"I told you," I find myself blurting out, "if you want to get through to Phos you can deal with me first. But now, I'm not interested in a fight, my priority is to get Phos out of the pond. So unless you want this armless gem to struggle bringing up her fellow friend all by herself," I told Bort while heading to the edge of the pond, "stop arguing and give me a hand."

I held my breath in and jumped.

Sinking to the bottom, I landed on the shell itself. Standing on the shell, I looked around.

Phos, where are you?

"I like your attitude, newbie," Bort said as they landed beside me.

"Sorry," I replied. "It's just that you have a really terrible attitude."

"You're the first around to say that to me," Bort replied with a hint of surprise. "That being said," they continued, grabbing my shoulder, "you're in no position to help. Go to the doctor to get your arms back."

They then threw me straight up, out of the water and onto the corridor.

"Dan! Are you alright?" Dia asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it's nothing, Bort just threw me up, told me to go look for Rutile. Hey Dia," I turned to them, "can you help me pick up my parts and bring them to Rutile?"

* * *

Some time later I was at the doctor's corner, Rutile piecing my arms back other just a really short distance away.

"Hey, Rutile."

"What is it?"

"Before Phos got eaten by that snail, I tried to push her out."

"And how did that go?"

"I failed." I looked down. "Even with my hardness, I'm so brittle. That's not an issue, but in combat, I'm timid and can't react quickly enough. I'm just useless, I guess."

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Dan, look at me."

I lifted my head to face Rutile.

"Nobody blames you, you're barely days old. Of all the gems that are here, those who started combat initially were terrible at it, this isn't something born into you. Dia, Jade, even Bort had their times where they were terrible. You just need practice."

I sighed. "Got it. Thanks, Rutile."

"My pleasure. And so you know," they added while heading back to my nearly-reassembled arms, "Dia is brittle too."

"Yeah, I've heard."

A short few minutes later, Rutile had reassembled my arms, and shortly reconnected them to me.

"Thanks, doc."

"No problem. Now, you can rest there for a bit, I'll be lying on this table."

As Rutile laid down, I followed suit on the side seats. Staring into the sky, I allowed my mind to wander.

 _Well, big man, I hope this long-term healing session works. I guess it's taking effect, all the people here are really nice and supportive. Speaking of which, I regret not being able to save Phos. Though, she should be fine, right? Well, they, but who cares? Seriously though, why do I get a nagging feeling in my chest? Is there someth-_

"Emergency! We have an emergency!"

"What?" Getting up, I noticed Dia, Bort, Jade and Euclase running towards the doctor. Dia in particular was holding a bowl with something in it.

Isn't that the snail thing from earlier?

"Alright, alright," Rutile answered, getting up. "So someone was eaten up by a snail and fell into the pond, yes? I know who's it, but it was Phos, right?"

The creature squeaked. Or did whatever it made to sound like that. I'll just go with "squeak".

"There, you'll be okay," Dia told the snail, setting the bowl down onto the table beside Rutile. "I'm sure Rutile would be able to figure something out."

The creature replied with another squeak.

"Oh, thank goodness, Phos!"

"Wait, what?" I asked in puzzlement as Rutile stared at Bort, pointing at Dia.

Bort simply looked away.

"Hehe, you're so happy, aren't you?" Dia told the creature.

"What's going on?" I asked again, still not getting the situation.

"You diamonds," Rutile said, "neither you nor your jokes are ever dull."

"I'm serious!" Dia retorted.

"Phos was swallowed up by a giant snail the Lunarins dragged in," Jade explained. "But this is all that's left. The shell was completely empty."

"A 'shell' of its former self, you mean?" Rutile asked.

I had to freaking cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing.

Jade similarly almost let a laugh out, but managed to hold it in better.

"I must say," Rutile added, "that's really a terrible joke-"

"I am reporting the situation!" Jade suddenly shouted, making me jump.

"Well then, let's cut into it, shall we?" Rutile stood up.

The snail shrieked in shock.

"Wait!" Dia said, quickly picking up the bowl and hiding it behind a back.

"Honestly, I can't say if it would work with this slimy little thing," Rutile said, "but if that is truly Phos, it should be fine."

"Wait, I'm still not following you guys," I said. "What do you mean 'that's truly Phos'?"

"We're saying," Bort explained, "that that thing," pointing towards the snail, which has crawled up Dia's shoulder, "is that runt you're friends with."

I blinked.

"SAY WHAT?"


	9. Chapter 9

_Nine_

"Dammit, you're this little thing now, aren't you?" I said as I touched the little creature.

It let out a sound of contention as I stroked it.

"Hehe, you like it, don't you? Still, I'd prefer you as a gem. How do we fix this?" I asked, turning to look at Rutile.

"Well, like I've said, if it's truly Phos, it should be fine," Rutile said as they put on black gloves.

"B-but, animals can't be put back together, can they?" Dia asked.

"Animals rot away when they break," Jade replied as "Phos" shook in violent fear. "They are built to replace one another, with the older ones dying off, Sensei once told me."

"I can confirm that," I offered. "When they die, they're gone forever, their bodies decaying and returning back to the soil. The soil becomes fertile, plants grow on it, the plants die and the cycle repeats indefinitely unless plants go extinct. It's a beautiful concept to some people, the circle of life. Just pondering, where do the spirits of those animals go to once they're dead? Some say they're reincarnated as another sentient living thing, others say they go to heaven and stay there for eternity, permanently in bliss. Those that have done bad deeds are said to go too…"

I faltered as I noticed everyone (including "Phos") staring at me in confusion.

"Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing! I'm just talking about useless things!"

I gave myself a mental slap for calling death unimportant.

"Inferior beings nonetheless," Bort added, making me wince as if they were insulting me. "So is this what they've become, is it?"

"How inconvenient," Rutile commented, walking over to her shelf. "We certainly will want to fix this before Sensei awakens.

"It's fine by me as long as that one isn't stolen by the moon," Bort continued. "We've done our part here. Dia, return once your arm is mended," they added as they turned around and walked away.

"Right…"

"Here," Euclase said as they walked up, giving Dia her broken arm back. "Phos dropped this right before getting sucked in. Maybe in hopes that your arm could be saved," they explained as Dia took the arm.

"Huh…" Dia exhaled.

 _Speaking of exhaling, I've figured out breathing in this form. Apparently we don't need air for anything whatsoever, but the automatic reflex of breathing even when we don't need to (we're all simply just rock-solid gems with completely no internal systems whatsoever) sticks with us. A remnant of an ancient species, Sensei explained to me. Same goes with occasional sweating and tearing when crying._

"We have to take responsibility too, for telling Phos to investigate that shell to begin with," Jade added. "But seeing that we have no means to do anything here, we should just leave that thing with the doctor."

Jade and Euclase walked away.

Dia turned to look at me.

"Don't worry, I'm staying."

Dia looked down at her arm as "Phos" sighed.

* * *

With a crack, Dia's arm was reattached. They winced.

"Do be sure not to overdo it for a while," Rutile advised.

"Thank you. Open, close, open close," Dia tested.

 _She's a diamond, both figuratively and literally_.

"Okay, bye then," Dia told "Phos".

"I'll look after it for you, don't worry," Rutile assured with a smile.

"Thank you," Dia said as she walked away.

I immediately saw a slasher smile on the doctor.

"Hey, don't go mad," I warned.

"I know, I know," Rutile replied, walking towards the now-jumping "Phos" screeching for help.

They immediately whipped out surgical tools and began to laugh maniacally.

'You quack!" I shouted, getting up and grabbing the bowl, then running away.

Noticing Dia having turned around to look at us, I slowed down.

Motioning me to pass the bowl to them, Dia turned round and ran alongside me.

"Don't worry, we'll get you back to normal!" Dia said.

* * *

"Say, you turning out like this… it didn't…"

"Huh?" I looked at Dia, puzzled.

"It had nothing to do with that advice I gave you… did it?"

"Phos" looked at Dia. "Yea," "they" made out as "they" nodded.

Dia squatted down. "Oh, of course it was, wasn't it?"

They looked up.

"Okay then…" Dia said as she stood up, "Let's just go ask everyone for some help!"

* * *

"What?! Phos…?"

"Yeah, Phos is…" Dia replied.

"Ah! I know!" Red Beryl exclaimed as they got up from designing some white dressed and looked at "Phos".

"Here, look at that!" The tailor stood back, looking at the ribbon they tied onto the creature's head.

"Phos" only turned around to look at both of us.

"Huh? Phos…"

"Phos" squealed a bit inside "their" bowl.

"Wait," Sphene continued, "before that, I need to finish fixing this desk." They resumed cutting the wood.

The three of us sighed.

"Seriously?!" Morganite shouted as Goshenite covered her mouth in shock.

"Yeah, seriously…" Dia went.

"Yeah, I suppose you're not one for jokes…" Morg said.

"Hey, why not leave Phos like that? It might be gross, but at least it's quiet. It's definitely gross- UWAAA! GET AWAY, STAY OFF ME! YOU'RE SLIMY! SO SLIMY!"

Dia and I could only sigh as "Phos" continued attacking Morganite, with Goshe trying to pry the supposed ex-gem off.

"What?! Is that even possible?" Benitoite said in shock.

"Yeah…" Dia replied.

"Wow… Phos really can't do anything anymore… So we need to find a way to undo this, huh?

"Phos never did anything before, you know," a red-haired, twintailed gem commented. This isn't Red Beryl, so what's her name again? Ah, right, Neptunite.

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing," Benitoite replied.

"Phos" just buried "their" head into the bowl.

"Woah… You really went all-out, huh? Nice going, Phos," this yellow-haired gem said, approaching to look at "Phos" closer.

This is Yellow Diamond, Sensei told me they're the oldest around. 4 thousand years, is that right? Beside them was Zircon. Second youngest around, I guess? Nah, third, with the arrival of me Phos is no longer the youngest around.

"I don't feel like much has changed, though…" the aforementioned Zircon commented, earning looks from all the other four of us.

"Eeeeeeh?" This green-haired gem looked at Phos with excitement. This one's called Watermelon Tourmaline, and to her right is Hemimorphite.

"But wait," Hemi said, "This means Phos wouldn't have to worry about the Lunarins anymore!"

 _Hemi sounds like a good nickname for them, I guess. All we have to do is to add, say, some three-digit number, maybe 426, and that'll sound like a car engine's name._

* * *

As the sun set, Dia and I watched, seated on the beach, close to the waves.

Dia sighed.

"Phos, you certainly aren't popular with the others, huh... If you don't make efforts to get along with everyone, no one will be there to help you when you're in need."

I sighed. _Phos had it better than me, at least. Even after that crying session I'm still haunted by nightmares of everything that happened that day about the killer litter incident, waking up in cold sweat and tears almost every night. I still can't have a good night's sleep, healing will probably take some time._

 _In my opinion, being simply ignored is much better than being actively hated by everyone._

"Hey, are you listening?" Dia asked, turning around as I followed.

Noticing that the bowl was empty, we turned around and saw "Phos" relieving themself.

By "relieving" I meant defecating.

"No! Stop! If you start eating grass, you'll dirty your insides!" Dia approached "Phos", narrowly missing one of the small stools that "Phos" shot out.

I got beside Dia, holding the bowl and away from the faeces, and squatted down.

Dia sighed again.

"Do you not want to be saved? If you've changed that much, maybe you don't have to worry about everyone anymore…"

"Phos" had already curled up and began sleeping.

We stared at the sleeping creature in silence for a few moments.

"You don't have to compare yourself to anyone," Dia said. "No need to be jealous or put on airs either, is there?"

I looked at Dia. They must be referring to Bort, I guess.

"Are you happier this way?"


	10. Chapter 10

_Ten_

Night had already fallen, and "Phos" was still asleep.

Dia and I had been watching the little creature all this time, still squatting there.

Dia picked "Phos" up, placed "them" back in the bowl and stood up.

"Let's go ask around a little bit more. Come on Dan, let's go."

I stood up. "Alright."

Looking back at "Phos", Dia looked at the large moon.

"I'm sure there's someone out there who needs you."

"Yeah, me…" I muttered in reply.

"... and Cinnabar," I suddenly realized.

"Come on Dia, let's ask Cinnabar!"

Dia nodded in agreement.

"But where?" I wondered.

* * *

A few minutes later, we still couldn't find Cinnabar.

"I'm tired," Dia said with a yawn. I myself am starting to feel a bit tired too. _So much for all those nights I spent late doing last-minute homework. Or reading._

"You take a rest first, Dia. I'll keep a lookout for Cinnabar."

"Mmm," she said as she lied down. "Look after Phos for me too, okay?"

"Alright."

Setting the bowl beside me, I sat down.

Looking up at the moon, I allow myself to let my thoughts out.

"That one's not Luna, is it? Too large. Must be one of the newer moons. Oh, there's a small one behind, that's Luna. Damn, the tide sure has changed a lot with 6 more moons around. So where do the Lunarins come from? They said 'the moon', but which one? Ah, I'm overthinking things agai-"

Some odd rustling noises caught my ear.

I looked forward, alert.

No, that won't work. I closed my eyes.

The rustling noises got louder.

Just when they're close enough, I opened my eyes and jumped up.

The bushes parted to reveal Cinnabar crawling out.

"Oh, it's you," I said. "You're attracted by Dia's glow, aren't you?" I said, turning back to look at Dia's hair reflecting everywhere.

"Huh? Cinnabar?" Dia said as she got up, sitting on her legs.

"What are you two doing here?" Cinnabar asked, puzzled.

"It's so dark, I must've fallen asleep" Dia said, shaking her head.

The reflection from her hair got too blinding as the brightest spots moved around, focing Cinnabar and I to cover our eyes.

"Y-you're way too bright!" Cinnabar commented.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you…" Dia apologized, before taking off her left glove, tying it around her hair and starting to look around for something.

"Get out of here!" Cinnabar told us coldly before turning around.

"Wait, Cinn!" I stopped her. "We need your help on someth- oh no, Phos!"

Noticing what Dia had noticed earlier, I immediately bent down and started looking.

"Phos is missing!" Dia told me.

"I know, my bad for not looking after her properly! Phos, where are you?!"

"Phos, where did you go?!" Dia called out anxiously. "What are we gonna do? Phos! Phos! This is terrible, what are we gonna do? Cinnabar! Don't go on without me!" Dia shouted as they grabbed onto the mercury-controlling gem. "You and I were both born on the same year, right? Help me look!"

"Absolutely not! I never want to see them again!"

"Sorry, I didn't keep an eye out for- oh, there you are!" I said, entering a bush and grabbing "Phos" up, earning myself a squeal from "them".

"Found em."

"There you are! Thank goodness!" Dia sighed in relief as they took "Phos" from me.

"Come on, don't shake around! Here, this way!"

"I'm leaving!" Cinnabar shouted in annoyance just before Dia showed them "Phos" in the bowl.

"Recognize anything?"

The creature started reacting excitedly at the sight of Cinnabar. I was doubting that was Phos, but now it seems like it really was Phos.

"Oh my, you seem so happy!"

"Is that your pet or something?" Cinnabar asked, pointing at "Phos". "You truly are strange. That battle maniac too. I'll never understand you diamonds."

Dia giggled. "This right here is Phos! Phosphophyllite! The very same one you rescued just the other day. Right?"

"Phos" squeaked in agreement.

"And that is why we need your help, Cinnabar," I said. "We're finding a way to turn Phos back to normal, do you have any ideas?"

"Explain why… Never mind, I don't even want to know," Cinnabar replied in shock.

* * *

"So… Eaten by some snail brought in by the Lunarins, and then turned into one?"

"That's the gist of it," I replied.

"Yeah, both Dia and "Phos" went.

"Do you honestly believe that is even possible?" Cinnabar asked.

"What?" I heard the creature went, but I placed it as my imagination.

"To be completely honest," I admitted, "I'm skeptical of this being Phos. No proof though, just a feeling."

"I see. Did you manage to break its shell before Phos was eaten?"

"Well, the Lunarins did just drop it down on us, and Bort went at it and opened a hole or two, maybe," Dia answered.

Cinnabar just left.

"Wait!" Dia called out. Passing the bowl over to me, Dia rushed forward and grabbed Cinnabar again.

"This is where you say 'I know how to turn her back', right?"

"Don't put words in my mouth! I said nothing of the sort!"

"Everyone else says it's better off this way! Do you feel the same?!"

Cinnabar paused, sighed and looking down.

I could see the genuine concern for Phos in their eyes.

"No…" she looked away. "I think we'd be better off without someone like that. Troublesome, selfish, self-centered and full of nothing but childish thoughts, a useless fool who can't do anything, but still imposes on others without a second thought. I hate it!"

It didn't take a detective to figure out that Cinnabar really felt the complete opposite of whatever she just said.

"Cinnabar…" Dia started. "Did Phos confess some feelings for you or something?"

The mercury around Cinnabar twitched.

"Why would you ever think that?!" They yelled in shock as they turned back. "I've always hated how you think of everything as some sort of romance!"

"But that's exactly how it sounds like!" Dia retorted, taking the bowl from me. "You know, that was the most you've spoken in the last 100 years."

Beat.

Cinnabar turned round, folding her arms.

"Tsun-de-re, are you?~" I said, deciding to mess with Cinnabar just a bit.

"W-what does that even mean?" Cinnabar asked, staring at me.

"Well," I answered,slowly walking behind her, "a tsundere hides her true feelings for someone under a tough face, mostly because she's too shy to openly show it. So," I got closer to Cinnabar, feeling myself smile a bit too much and lowering my voice a bit, "are you?"

Cinnabar immediately turned round, folding her arms again. I already saw a blush forming on her face even before she turned.

"T-there's nothing of that sort with me! Why would I care about someone as useless as Phos?!"

"Whatever you say, my friend."

Snickering in my mind, I decided to just let them go for tonight. I don't want to hit any berserk button and genuinely piss her off.

"Do you like that?" Dia asked "Phos", who eagerly nodded.

"Oh yes, you have terrible taste!"

"Hey!" Cinnabar shouted, turning her head around. "What is this thing anyway?"

"'What'"...? Dia wondered.

"Dan's intuition is right, that there is just one random snail. Shell dwellers like those eat rocks to repair and strengthen their shells. Look," CInnabar explained, motioning for us to look at a small red snail.

"The shells on the ones here are red because they feast on the red cliffs. But the ones on the shore," Cinnabar explained further, walking to the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach, "are white like the beach itself."

Dia turned to look at me. "Hey Dan, if you said you woke up here, is you being white related to what Cinnabar just said?"

"Hehe, no, of course not, I'm no snail."

"That loud-mouthed good-for-nothing…" Cinnabar went on. "Might as well stay down there in the pond. All mint-colored."

"Dia," I came to realize, "Remember those green cracks?"

Dia nodded, slowly coming to figure it out themself.

"That is the real Phos! Dammit, how did we overlook that?"

"So you mean…" DIa asked Cinnabar for further confirmation.

Cinnabar just stared ahead.

* * *

"No we won't! Thanks Cinn! You're the best!" I yelled back as Dia and I ran back to the school.

" _You mean, Phos was turned into part of that shell?" Dia exclaimed. "If we carve out the mint-colored pieces that are mint colored…"_

" _...then we can piece back Phos!" I finished._

" _Of course!" Dia replied, taking off the glove she was wearing over her hair. "Because we can never truly die!"_

 _Call it intuition again, but Dia and I started running back at the same time._

" _Don't do it! There's no point in saving that one!" I heard Cinnabar shout._

" _There is!" I yelled back. "For me and for you!"_

" _Bring Phos back as much as you want; you'll still end up with a useless good-for-nothing!"_

" _No we won't! Thanks Cinn, you're the best!"_

As we approached the woods, Dia leapt up and swung across the trees. I opted to just run around them on the ground.

"So, Dia!" I shouted so that she could hear me. "What's the plan?"

"We call the others up and drag the shell out!" was the reply I got.

"Cool! Why not you call them up and I get the rope? It'll be much faster!"

"Sure! Go ahead, I'll catch up later!"

"I'm going as fast as I can already!"

As we cleared the forest and approached the school, a black figure jumped down. That was Bort.

Both of us slowed down for some reason.

"We found a way," Dia told their partner, "I think we can save Phos!"

 _Wait, why did I stop? I'm anxious to drag that damned shell out of the water._

"Sorry Bort," I decided on a whim, "no time to ask for your permission, I need the rope!"

Boldly, I ran past them and entered the school, making a straight beeline to the doctor's corner.

"Rutile! Rutile!"

"Yes, yes, is it an emergency?" the doctor replied, getting up from her rest.

"Kinda. Do you have rope?"

"Yeah, they're on that shelf. What do you want to do with it anyway?"

"Oh, just pulling the shell out of the pond, Phos is trapped inside it."

"Really?" Rutile asked me, surprised.

"Yeah, Cinnabar told Dia and I that snails eat rocks to heal their shells. Since that snail ate Phos, those green cracks on the shell are most likely parts of Phos. Speaking of which, give me a hammer and chisel too, I'd need to chip them out."

"No, leave that to me. Take the rope," Rutile said, passing me a full yarn of thick rope.

"Alright! Thanks! Dia is waking everyone up, by the way!"

Rolling the yarn towards the pond as quickly as I can, I pushed the rope in before jumping down into the pond myself.

Sinking to the bottom, I landed beside the massive shell. True enough, the center crack had a green, gem-like appearance from the inside, glittering from the minimal light coming from the jellyfishes around.

Now _that_ is Phos.

" _Well done, Nicole,"_ I felt myself think, " _you've got the rope. Now how exactly are you going to tie the shell up yourself?"_

Beat.

"Oh, bummer."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author here, sorry for the long wait, had been rather busy. Anyway, I've updated the story cover to a commission of Danburite, shout-out to KitomeHanabi on DeviantArt for his excellent drawing.**

 **Anyway, without further ado, Chapter 11.**

 _Eleven_

Dammit.

I sighed and sat down, resting my back against the shell. I had tried everything I could to tie the shell, but I've got no luck so far.

The jellyfishes swam around me, their light illuminating what would otherwise be a dark, saltwater pond.

 _Hey, since when do jellyfishes produce their own light? I've already noticed that way earlier, but this is the first time I'm thinking about this seriously. Evolution?_

 _Why am I thinking about this anyway? I have a friend to help, but I can't do it alone. The shell's way too heavy for me to slide the rope underneath._

I looked at the shell's green center crack.

 _No. Phos needs me, even if I can't lift it myself I have to at least try to do something._

Getting up, I attempted to lift the shell up again.

I swear I could feel my arms beginning to crack, but that's nothing compared to saving Phos.

Unable to keep it up anymore, I stopped, resting my head on the shell.

"I'm useless."

"Of course you can't lift it, nether Dia nor Bort can lift it on their own," a familiar voice from some green gem came out of above.

Looking up, I saw Jade descending, with Euclase following behind.

"Ah, Speaker, Euclase."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Dan," Euclase comforted, "nobody here can lift a shell on their own, except maybe for Sensei." They put a hand on my shoulder.

I sighed. "Thanks, Euclase. It's just…"

"Now's not the time, you two," Jade interrupted. "Here, Euclase and I will lift the shell while you put the rope below, alright? Put some spirit into it, and if you already have, put some more!"

"Yes!" I shouted, firing myself up.

"Good! Now we'll do this side first, grab the rope."

* * *

"It might be the middle of the night, but put some backbone into it!" Jade rallied.

"Heave ho!"

"PULL!"

It took a while, but with the help of everyone else we eventually managed to drag the shell out of the pond. With Dia and Euclase holding bowls of jellyfish around, Jade broke a chisel into one of the green-colored parts of the shell, revealing the pieces to indeed be phosphophyllite.

"Ahh, it's stuck in there really good. This is going to take a while. I need more light!"

Eventually, bowl after bowl of the peppermint-colored gem began to fill up, and the last bowl, being passed through all of us reached Dia, who immediately took off to Rutile.

"Alright, now what do we do with this shell?" I asked.

"Good question. Why don't we leave it here for now?" Euclase suggested. "I'm pretty sure everyone's tired already, let's call it a day and check on Phos first thing in the morning, alright?"

* * *

Somehow, I couldn't sleep.

Even after checking on Rutile and Dia, the former who was putting Phos back nicely and the latter insisting on staying there until Phos is done, I still can't doze off.

Sitting on the windowsill, with my back resting against the side of the window, I looked up at the moons again.

 _Why am I so useless?_

 _Throughout the whole day, from the fight with the snail to dragging the shell out of the water, I hadn't done much to actually significantly help in any way. They all say Phos is annoying and a freeloader, but the truth is, to me Phos compliments the mellower and quieter atmosphere with her cheerful, carefree, frank attitude. Like a lone candle in a dark room, if you may._

 _If any, I'm the one freeloading._

I sighed, lowering my head into my curled-up legs and closing my eyes..

 _Everyone's kind to me, which is great, but I really give nothing in return._

Something urged me to open my eyes.

Lifting my head up and opening my eyes, I noticed a butterfly flying outside. But this butterfly isn't like anything I've seen before, both in this world and in my past life.

This butterfly was larger than my hand, and what caught my attention was its orange wings with red details.

"Oh, hello there little guy," I called out. "You're a nice-looking butterfly, you know?"

The butterfly "danced" around, as though it understood my compliment.

I giggled. "You understand me, huh. Why not take a rest?"

The butterfly landed on the window grill, as if accepting my request.

"Nice, you're a special little fella."

I sighed and stretched out my legs.

"Well, at least you're carefree, doing nothing but flying around, eating pollen and doing your other stuff. On my side meanwhile, I kinda promised that I will protect someone and help another, but so far all that I did was nothing."

I lowered my head again.

"Must be nice, huh; doing everything at your own time and pace."

I felt something landed on my right knee. Looking up, I noticed that it was the butterfly, it somehow managed to crawl through the grill.

"Hey, you wanna stay with me?"

The orange-winged beauty fluttered its wings, and I took it as a positive response.

"Alright, this room will be shelter for you, but when it comes to food and water you'd have to look for it yourself."

The butterfly fluttered its wings again.

"Hehe, alright then."

Lifting my head up and looking at the moons again, I sighed.

"I really need to stop promising people things that I can't keep. Which means I can't make any, since I basically can do nothing."

I felt the butterfly take off, but before I could look down it began to annoy me, trying repeatedly to land on my face.

"Dammit, stop it! I don't want to hit you, come on!" I said in annoyance as I tried to get the butterfly away without hitting it.

The butterfly stopped and landed on the grille.

"You… didn't like what I said?"

Fluttering.

"But isn't that the truth? No, don't do that again, I really don't want to hit you, but that's how things have gone, no? Not looking at whatever happened back in _that_ world, I didn't do anything to actually help Phos or anyone in any way. Even if that snail isn't Phos, Dia was the one who did everything she could to help. Me? I just tagged along behind."

No reaction.

I sighed.

"You don't have any answers, I guess. That's fine, everything's on me anyway when it comes to the person at fault. Everyone back there blamed me for everything, so I guess… that's the truth."

I lowered my head again and closed my eyes. Although I felt like I wanted to cry, no tears came out.

"Why did Mr Almighty pick me? I'm just not worth it, am I?"

I felt something land on my chest.

Opening my eyes, I saw the butterfly looking at me.

"What?"

The butterfly moved a bit, but kept at the same spot.

 _Oh, the spot._

I noticed that it had landed a bit towards my left chest, just at where my heart is. Or rather, where my heart should have been if I were human.

"My heart? What with it?"

The butterfly just flapped its wings in response.

"Well, yeah, that's how I died, heartache. Thinking 'bout it, that night was pretty agonizing, I really felt like I wanted to die. Wait."

I thought for a moment.

"You want me to follow my heart?"

Happy fluttering.

 _Ah, so that's what it wanted to tell me._ But why follow my heart? I mean, I really don't get it. Trust my feelings? Right now I'm feeling pretty worthless, so that's probably not what I it wanted to tell me.

I went back to more thinking again.

The butterfly took off, flew around my face for a moment as if it were saying "Think about it for a moment, alright?" before finding a spot at the other side of the room, resting.

"Well, alright, I'll think about it."

I looked up to the two moons and allowed myself to sink into my thoughts.

* * *

I felt something land on my right leg.

Opening my eyes, I noticed that it was just the butterfly. Seeing that I've woken up, it took off and began to flutter around.

 _Oh, it's morning already._

Stretching myself, I noticed that I dozed off while thinking last night.

 _Is there something that I've forgotten?_

I stood up, stretching more. Judging from the sunlight, I noticed that it was a bit too late in the morning. Well, I'm probably up earlier than Phos still, that girl sleeps early and wakes up late every single day.

Well, anyway, I'll go wake her up.

 _Oh right, wasn't she being pieced back by Rutil-_

Oh, that's what I've forgot. Dammit, I need to hurry.

"Hey," I told the butterfly, "you stay here and do whatever you want, you can go out to look for food or something if you want. I'm in a bit of a rush now."

Brisk-walking out of my room, I looked around in the rooms.

Nobody around.

 _Well, sh*t._

Running towards the stairs, I decided on a whim to just leap down the whole flight. _I'm 7 and a half, why not?_

 _Oh wait, I'm brittle._

Managing to barely slow down enough, I leapt down some few steps before tripping over and landing flat on the floor.

Good thing nothing broke. I guess I really should slow down.

* * *

"Rutile! Rutile!"

"You're late, Phos is already up and running," was the reply as I approached their corner.

"Yeah, overslept. How's Phos?"

"They're okay, back to normal. Was shouting at the creature though, saying how they understand the thing."

"What?"

"Yeah, you heard right," Rutile confirmed, "Phos was talking to the snail earlier on. You should go find them, perhaps you could fix things up."

"Alright. Where is she anyway?"

"'She'?"

"Oh," I noticed, "it's nothing, I'll go look for Phos now, thanks!"

Walking away as quickly as I can, I was glad I didn't leak out more.

 _Damn, that was close. Now, maybe I'll go to the site where the shell was first._

* * *

Wow, bingo, there's Phos.

"Hey there, how are you feeling?" I asked, approaching the blankly-staring gem.

No reply.

"Hey," I asked again, waving a hand over her eyes, "are you there?"

Noticing squeaking, I noticed that to her left there was the snail in the bowl.

"Ah, so you're here to-"

Phos grabbed the bowl and tossed the snail into the pond, earning a few squeals from the creature.

"Oh, hi there Dan," Phos finally replied. "Just spacing out, that's all. You weren't there ya know, you really worked yourself off, didn't you?" they added on, shooting a grin at me.

"Eheh, well, Dia was the one doing most of the job, I didn't do much. Anyway, Rutile told me you were talking to the snail, what's going on?"

"Nobody understands her other than me," Phos said as the snail climbed back to land, tired.

"Darn," she told the creature. "Can't you shrink anymore?"

The creature held onto the bowl and began squeaking.

Phos looked up to the moon in the air.

"Well… I mean, if that's true I might feel sympathetic, but…"

"Forget about it!" Phos suddenly shouted, staring at the snail. "Why am I the only-"

"How are you feeling?" Yellow Diamond asked, running past the three of us.

"Don't overdo it!" Zircon added, running past too.

"Mental issues should be checked out ASAP," Neptunite went, walking past, earning a frown from Phos.

"Let's play cards tonight!" Benitoite chimed in, also walking past.

The snail was just whistling as the other gems past.

"See, since I'm the only one who seems to understand you, everyone else thinks I'm going crazy!"

"I believe you," I interjected without thinking.

"You do?" Phos asked, both them and the snail turning around to face me.

"Well, yeah. Call it a gut feeling or something, but I know you aren't lying."

Phos' mood immediately brightened.

"Thank you Dan!" she cried out while hugging me tightly. "I knew that I can always count on you, my sweet little kouhai!"

"Eheh," I managed to reply.

"Still," Phos said, releasing their arms and squatting down, looking at the creature, "can't you do something about this?"

More squeaking. _Damn, I wish I could follow whatever they said._

Phos dropped her head and stretched forward. "Why do you have to gulp down me, of all people?

" _Just this once, my child." Huh?_

"You just looked so tasty," an unfamiliar voice said.

"Phos, are you okay?" Dia asked briefly as they passed by.

"No," was the reply.

"Hey! My Diamond!" I heard the creature shout.

 _Wait, what? Did God just give me the same ability to speak to this snail?_

"My, what a wonderful place. Chock full of cuties! I'm into the slightly stuck-up type. Like the one with long black hair, or the redhead who's out at night!"

"You met Cinnabar?!" Phos shouted as they got up and looked at the snail.

"Quite clever, that one…" the snail went as it (or she, feminine voice), slouched down inside the bowl. "One brief consideration of the traits in my kind, and Cinnabar instantly knew you were in that shell. The reason you are back here now is entirely thanks to that."

Phos looked down.

"So Cinnabar saved me again, then… That's not good. Nope, definitely bad" Phos sulked, plopping herself facedown while sitting on her legs, with her butt in the air.

I couldn't interrupt here, I guess.

"You don't want to let that one see you slip up, right?"

"Yeah? What are you trying to get at?" Phos asked. "Cinnabar shared a secret with me I bet no one else knows, other than Dan here. I don't know why, but I want to imagine Cinnabar wouldn't have just told anyone. You know…" Phos continued, sitting back up, "no one's ever counted on me for help before. That's why I have to be the hero this time around. Okay!" Phos suddenly shouted, jumping up. "Time to get serious!" Oh, there's Rutile.

"Me too, me too!" The creature replied.

"No, you just go take a walk or something! Go play with Dan or something!"

"Do allow me to break you down and put you back together one more time," Rutile interjected, grabbing Phos' arm.

"No, Phos is telling the truth, the creature's really talking," I interrupted, earning the surprise of both Rutile and the snail.

"Surely you can't understand me, can you?"

"Somehow I can," I replied, "let's just say something hit my head. Figuratively."

"Oooh, how nice. Danburite, is it? You were tagging around with Dia yesterday."

"Yeah, that's me."

"I love your twintails, it makes you look even cuter with how cute you already are," the snail replied, making me blush a bit, "but anyway, I am the king who rules over all of the Admirabilis, Ventricosus!"

"Well, hello there I guess. You can call me Dan, it's shorter and easier to say quickly."

"Wait," Phos interrupted, squatting beside me, "you understand her too?"

"Yeah, apparently. I don't know what hit me, but suddenly I can hear her talking."

"Perfect! Now the two of you understand me! Hey, can I call you Discount Diamond?"

"Eh? Discount Dia? I'm not Dia you know, I'm my own self."

"Eh, yeah, you just look a bit like them, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Looks like you too have gone mad," Rutile interrupted, grabbing Phos and I and pulling both of us up. "I'll break you two down and put you together then, come with me."

"This is some mental thing!" Phos blurted out as the both of us tried to get away. "It's just stress! Stress, I say!"

"But this reflects on me and my practice!" Rutile replied.

Phos reached down and grabbed the bowl.

"Take this!" she shouted, throwing Ventricosus at the doctor.

The snail landed on the doctor's right leg.

"You will not get away with this!" Rutile shouted.

"Just listen. Doctor's orders!" she shouted, proceeding to kick Ventricosus towards Phos.

Poor Ventrico went straight up into the air, screaming.

What goes up must come down, however, and that applies to the king of the Admirabilis too.

Unfortunately, she landed _on Sensei's bald head_ , just as he was talking to Dia along with Jade and Bort.

The three of us just stared in shock.

"I'm definitely getting blamed for this…" Rutile muttered, taking the time to sneak away.

"I'm not running," I assured Phos. "I'm sticking with you on this."

Jade had buried her face in her hands, Bort had put her head against a pillar and Dia had already fell to her knees alongside her black-haired partner, all three of them giggling.

"We're screwed," Phos muttered.

"Definitely."


	12. Chapter 12

_Twelve_

"Now, O Shelled King. While our circumstances may differ, shells are but another form of gem. I welcome you here."

I'm honestly surprised Sensei didn't lash out at us. Even if there was someone to blame, it had to be Rutile.

 _Too bad she ran away._

"What do you wish to do now?" Sensei offered.

"Please go out with me!" Ventrico shouted excitedly.

"It wishes to be your servant, it says," Phos immediately replied, obviously trying to cover up what the snail had really said.

"Now that will not do," Sensei replied as Ventrico attacked Phos, the latter using a chair to block herself. "I believe we should maintain equal and amicable relationships," he continued, as I joined in the fight and tried to pry Ventrico away from Phos.

"While I can see it means us no harm…" Sensei went on as Ventrico managed to trip Phos and I over and _attempted to kiss Sensei_ before Phos pulled her away, "you two are still the only ones who can understand it," he finished, looking at the both of us.

"So I ask that you take it with you as part of your work on the encyclopedia."

"Got it," I replied.

"Alright…" Phos said dejectedly.

"Sensei, I wanted to ask you about Cinnabar…" Phos continued just as Sensei was about to leave.

"Hmm?"

"Why do such a pointless job? I know CInnabar might be hazardous, but they're also extraordinary and has already saved my good-for-nothing self twice now. Isn't there anything else-"

"Forgive me."

"Huh?"

"I have yet to find a solution to this problem," Sensei answered. "And you see, working in the night watch is Cinnabar's own idea. Despite repeated attempts at persuasion that merely living was enough in itself... But the child is far too kind and far too wise to simply sit by idly. I could not bring myself to take away the very night watch Cinnabar personally thought up. Still, the fact that I have locked Cinnabar away in the night does not change. My own worry and ignorance are to blame. Allow me more time to find an answer. We are too complex to be satisfied with simply living. But thankfully, we live long lives. The need for patience and perseverance may be met with chargin, but if you wish to be of use to Cinnabar when the time comes, then I ask you to focus on completing what you have been tasked with. Furthermore," he finished, looking at me, "you are not alone on this task."

* * *

"I…"

"Hm?" Ventricosus stopped eating grass and looked at Phos lying on the floor, as I rolled over too. It's already evening, and we've spent most of the time after Sensei's talk lying in the grasslands.

"I might never find anything to offer Cinnabar…"

"Perhaps not in these lands," Ventrico replied."

"Hm?" Phos was the one to be puzzled this time.

"Let's head for the sea."

Phos got up and grabbed the bowl, while I opted to remain lying down and watch.

"Back.. back… back..." Phos guided the snail back into the bowl, before quickly swooping up and violently shaking it.

"Aaah! Wait just a minute!"

"You just want me to play and forget about everything?" Phos asked tiredly, stopping and staring at Ventrico.

"Nothing of that sort! Now that I've slimmed down and my mind is clear again, I've remembered."

"Remembered what?"

"Back in my homeland in the sea, there is one who looks very much like all of you."

"What?"

"Seriously?" I perked up, suddenly interested.

"Mmh," was the reply as the aquatic snail jumped off the bowl and onto the ground. "Surely that one might offer a hint at what you seek. Think of it as a great way to get your work done AND take your mind off things," she replied as she headed for the grass. "And lucky you, you have an adorable guide with you!"

"Oh my! Aren't you the kindest snail ever!" Phos replied enthusiastically before setting the bowl hard over Ventrico.

"Thank you, Ven-turd-osus!"

"That's Ventricosus!" was the annoyed reply.

"The sea is supposed to be off-limits," Phos said, "but… Well, I guess I'm no use around here anyway." They stared at the open ocean as I got up.

"So, Dan, what do you think?"

I'd be lying if I said I had no sense of adventure, of course I'm interested. That being said, call it a gut feeling, but I feel a nagging sense of doubt and caution.

"Well," I began, "uh, it's nice and all, but…"

"Just speak your mind," Phos said, "I won't be mad if you're unhappy anyway."

"Yeah, say what you want!" Ventrico joined in.

"Really? Well, ahem, sure, but please don't take offense… I'd like to go out too… but..." I said, before taking a breath.

"Are you out of your peppermint mind? That thing ate you, we almost lost you, and now you're just going to walk into the sea now because she just told you to?"

Phos was a bit taken aback, while the snail seemed more surprised.

"Oooh, feisty!"

"Eh, sorry," I quickly apologized to Phos, instantly reverting back to my usual behaviour, "it's just a nagging feeling, I really didn't mean to lash out at you like that."

"It's fine, it's fine!" Phos replied while they put a hand on my shoulder for comfort. "You're right though," she added, turning to face Ventrico, "I still haven't forgiven you for eating me."

"Your peppermint color is so nice, you look so sweet!" the snail defended herself.

"That still doesn't give you the right to gobble me up!"

"Come on, let me off already!"

"Ab-so-lute-ly not!"

"Hey, hey," I intervened, putting a stop to an imminent extended quarrel, "let's be nice, alright?"

The both of them stopped.

"Well, actually, now that that's off me…" I said.

"Maybe it's worth a shot."

* * *

"So early tomorrow, both of us are going to coat ourselves in that waterproof resin, Phos is going to 'borrow' Red Beryl's waterproof uniform, and together we'll follow Ventrico on an adventure into the sea!" I told the orange butterfly enthusiastically as I changed into my night robes and sat on my bed.

The butterfly danced around, before landing on the window sill.

"Don't do it."

"Why not? I'm yearning for some good ol' explorat- wait, you can talk? Did my new communication abilities allow me to pick up your language too?"

"Hehe, no, I can talk."

I sat up in surprise. "Woah, you didn't say anything last night."

"I wanted to remain silent until I needed to, but looks like that time has already came. Hey, wanna see a magic trick?"

"Uh, sure I guess."

The butterfly flew in front of me before emitting a bright flash of light, forcing me to shield my eyes.

As the light died down, I put down my arm.

"Woah."

In front of me was a blue-eyed girl, roughly about my human age too, wearing an orange, short-skirt kimono with red frills and butterfly art. The kimono itself exposed her shoulders and collar bone area, with red strings rounding her neck like a collar and holding the top part of the dress in place. She also wore detached sleeves, black stockings and shoes with high heels, tied to her legs and with a little cloth butterfly on each shoe. On her back, larger, thinner versions of her orange wings fluttered happily. She also had white hair, though non-glittering, tied into twintails, though further back, slightly higher and thinner than mine.

"Well, that hairstyle sure is original," I commented jokingly.

The girl giggled. "Actually, I've been using this hairstyle since the day I could decide which hairstyle I wanted. Anyway, here's my true form, like it?"

"Of course, your kimono choice looks really cute too. You didn't tell me you're a person too, though."

"Ah, I wanted to save this till I needed to too," she explained, proceeding to look back at her wings, stroking them. "You know, I wanted these wings to be as thin and sleek when I'm a butterfly as they are now, but damn, I couldn't fly with them. So I had to enlarge them."

"Yeah, that sucks. Hey, you haven't told me yet, who are you?"

"Ah! Oops, forgot to introduce myself proper!" The girl turned around and smiled.

"My name's Katsumi. I'm from what you call an alternate universe, my job being to study other worlds and eventually settle into one that I like. You're not from this world too, are you?" she asked, looking at me with a cheeky smile.

I looked back in even more surprise. "How could you possibly know that?"

"I can tell," she replied, turning her head aside and closing her eyes nonchalantly. "Your aura is different, is all."

"Interesting."

"Yeah, isn't it? Truth is, I didn't start out like this right from the start, you know? I was once a regular girl born in 2001, living in Japan." Katsumi turned to look outside the window. "Then when I was 16, I got the choice to put aside my normal life to be a dimensional observer. Of course, I accepted. I gained immortality, became physically stuck at 16 years old, gained the ability to transform into one animal of my choice. I picked the butterfly since I figured it would be easy to move around quietly."

She turned around to look at me, smiling. "Bow, what's yours"

"Huh?"

She giggled. "I want to know your story, silly."

"Eheh, alright, here goes. I was normal like you, born in 2001 and living in Singapore of another world. I was bullied and outcast by my class and school, and one day I was framed and severely caned for something I didn't do. This may sound cheesy, but on that night, God came. "

"Hold on, did you say God?"

"Yep. Cheesy, I know, but it happened."

"No, you're so lucky!" Katsumi shouted excitedly, her face lighting up. "As a dimensional observer meeting the Almighty is the best thing that can happen to us!"

"Be quieter, we don't need anyone to see us now."

"Right, sorry," she said, toning it down. "But hey, what did he say to you?"

"Nothing actually, I didn't know it was him until I met him later. I actually just died from heart complications at that time, broken heart syndrome, but all I felt was sleeping. Next thing I knew, I woke up on some beach here."

"Must be hard for you back then. Still, how did you know it was him?"

"He appeared to me a day later when I was unconscious. Told me my purpose here was to emotionally heal and regain my confidence. Or something around those lines, but it's for healing, eheheh."

"Man, that'd mean I'd have to play a part in you. That's great! Ah, speaking of which, I know everything that happened here since yesterday, I was flying around before I met you last night. Don't go with Ventrico, Dan."

"Eh? Why not?"

"Call it a gut feeling," was the nonchalant reply.

"So you feel that way too, huh. I'll think about it, see how it goes."

"Yeah, that's fine too."

Katsumi sat down beside me. Looking at her, I noticed two orange daggers she carried.

"Hey, what are those?"

"Oh, personal weapons," Katsumi replied, taking them out and twirling them. As soon as she grabbed onto them properly, the daggers began to glow both orange and red. Looking at them closer, I noticed that the hilt was a dark red, the blade itself decorated with red lines.

"They look nice, don't they?"

"Yeah. Hey, what's with those markings on you?"

"Oh, these?" she clarified, pointing to the red, glowing lines running through her arms and up to her face, down her body to her legs. Now that I'm looking at her face, I noticed that her usually-blue eyes are now glowing orange.

"Hehe, side effect. As long as I'm holding them this happens, it's an indication of a spiritual connection with my blades. Even if they're hidden I can sense where they are anywhere."

"Cool."

"By the way," Katsumi said, putting her daggers back and returning to her normal looks, "I have a gift for you."

"Really?" I asked, interested. "What is it?"

"Not now," she replied cheekily, looking away.

"Aw, come on! I thought you really had something for me for a second there…"

"And I do," Katsumi clarified, her blue eyes looking into my white ones, "but that'll have to wait for a while."

"That's fine with me, ehehe. Thanks in advance."

"No problem, soulmate. Anyway," Katsumi said as a quick, bright flash of light came and she flew off in her butterfly form, "time to sleep. I'll be resting on this wall up here."

"Sure thing. G'night then, Katsumi."

"G'nite, Dan. By the way, what was your real name? Before you came here."

I laid down and looked up at the ceiling. "Nicole."

* * *

"Oi, how many layers are you going for?" I asked as I helped apply more resin to Phos' back. "We won't run out, but this is taking a bit too long, what if they find us?"

"Get on with it already," Ventrico chimed in impatiently.

"Hold on, hold on. If I go in without this all my powdered finish would wash away, and I'd just be hideous," Phos replied as she applied the resin on her arms. "Salt water is not good for the skin either."

"Corrosion?" I asked.

"Mmh. Then we'd have to chip away the affected skin to fix it."

"Hey, wouldn't Red Beryl be pissed when she realizes that you stole her project? Speaking of which, there's a nice label with a star behind here," I said, reaching out for more resin.

"No worries, we'll come back and put it back where it was quietly, nobody would know."

"Fair enough. Though, if this is waterproof like you said, why did you insist on putting resin inside?"

"Precautions, my little kouhai," Phos replied as she took another handful of resin. "If we're going to spend time under the sea, then I'll need to pre-"

A hand grabbed onto my head, forcing it around.

"And who gave you two permission to go?"

 _Oh drat, it's Rutile. Ah, there's Euclase behind. Busted._

"Ehehehehe…" both Phos and I went.

"Maybe I should slim down this part here…" Red Beryl muttered to themself as she bent down and observed how her project fitted Phos.

"Now is not the time, you fashion idiot!" Rutile shot.

* * *

"I forbid it."

"Aw, come on…" I sulked.

"But it's for the encyclopedi-" Phos began to reason.

"Perhaps if you have already finished documenting the hill, but I have yet to receive a single report from you two." Sensei said sternly. "Focus on the task before you."

Phos sighed and bent down, resting on her front.

* * *

"Does Sensei realize how long it's going to take to finish up with that hill? This is me we're talking about! What if Cinnabar vanishes before I'm done?"

"Don't worry, I'm here too, we can get this done as quickly as possible."

Noticing the snail making some weird noises, Phos and I looked down into the bowl.

"What's your deal?" Phos asked. "Why the weird sounds?"

"Uh… nothing," Ventrico went. "It's just… there are few nutrients to be had here. My strength is fading."

"Oh yeah, you animals can't survive on light alone, huh," Phos muttered. "You need food, right?"

"Yes. Every animal has a certain…"

"Oh no," I said as I looked closer at the snail. 'Ventrico, don't die on me yet!"

"Not dead yet, silly. Just… really… Woah!"

Ventrico immediately popped up.

"Almost fell asleep there! Hard to stay awake without energy."

"Eat more grass, perhaps?" I suggested.

"Still not enough."

"Don't go leading me on!" Phos shouted, annoyed. Or angry. "I thought you were going to die or whatever you call it!"

"But you know what?" they continued, toning it down. "I don't really understand 'death' much. What is it exactly? Is it being super tired? Or too lazy to move?"

"I can help with that," I chimed in. "Basically, you go to sleep and never wake up again. For living things, you stop breathing. No matter what you do, you can't wake a dead living thing. They're gone," I faltered, "forever."

"That," Ventrico said. "Another way to put it, it's like going far away."

"But whoever dies is still out there even if you can't see them, right?" Phos asked.

"They're gone for good, and you'll never find them again," Ventrico replied.

"They can't even hear it if you call for them?"

"Even if you call out for them, they won't know who they are anymore. But you see, in exchange for taking everything away, death gives meaning to life itself. It's really not such a bad thing at all."

"Still," Phos muttered, "it's kind of sad, though."

"Indeed, but it is not something we can run away from."

"Yeah," I reaffirmed. "To be honest though, nobody knows what death is until they die. And when they die, they can't come back to tell us." I had to watch what I say now, lest I blow my own cover.

"That's true too," Ventrico agreed. "Now, I wasn't lying when I said there was one like you under the sea, but the truth is, I mostly just want to see my homeland once again. I was sure I would never get such a chance, but as I draw closer, I can't take my mind off it. No matter what was lost, no matter how much ruin befell it, and no matter if no one is left, I still feel the urge."

* * *

"You're just going to walk into the sea now?" I asked.

"Yeah," Phos replied, looking back at me. We were now on one of the beaches, Phos deciding to just simply walk into the sea.

"Say, Dan, do you want to come?"

" _Don't do it." Katsumi's words kept echoing within my head._

"I'll pass for this once, sorry. You'll need someone to help cover you up too, no?" I shot the peppermint gem a confident grin. "I can do just that for you, no worries!"

"Alright, do your best for me then! See ya later!" Phos bade goodbye as she turned around and began walking into the sea.

"Bye-bye, Danburite!" Ventrico shouted back.

Waving back at them, I watched as Phos slowly entered the increasingly-deeper water.

"You get the nagging feeling that you should go along with them, right?"

Turning to my left, I noticed a familiar orange butterfly fluttering around.

"Yeah. Truth be told, I can't help but worry about Phos. Still a gut feeling, but I get the impression that something bad's gonna happen."

Katsumi landed on my left shoulder as we watched Phos disappear into the water.

"Now," Katsumi said, "I said that you shouldn't go with her for your own good. That being said," she added, taking off, "why not shadow the two of them?"

"Really?" I asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, if anything happens to Phos, just break your cover and save her! Make a choice now, you don't have much time before she walks too far."

I stared at the open ocean, back to Katsumi, and repeated the cycle.

"Alright, I'm going!" I replied as I ran into the water.

"Don't let them spot you! Be safe!" I heard the dimensional observer shout.

"Sure thing, thanks! See ya later!" I hollered back before diving downwards, deciding to swim and got into a breaststroke.

 _Lucky me, I know how to swim. Does feel heavier though._


	13. Chapter 13

_Thirteen_

Barely seeing Phos ahead, I noticed that I was too obvious with how shallow I was swimming at.

 _Oops, gonna dive. Need to crawl on the seabed I guess, else I'd be way too obvious._

I managed to quickly reach the seabed, on which I decided to squat-walk instead after seeing how quickly Phos was moving.

More sneaking for some time.

"How long does it take to get back home?" I heard Phos ask Ventrico. _Right, sound moves faster and longer in water, gotta be quiet._

"No time at all. But more importantly… You're frail for your own kind, yes? If you crack among the waves, you may never make it back."

Phos suddenly disappeared downwards. "Whooooa, whaaaaaaa…."

 _Hmm, must be an underwater cliff. I'll close the gap for now,_ I thought as I stood up and ran as quietly as possible, stopping and squatting down on the ledge.

"Whatever," I heard Phos say.

"Seriously?"

"Cinnabar might have shared a secret with me," Phos said while beginning to turn back, prompting me to quickly get back and lie down, "but I was the one who started making promises. I loaded myself up with responsibility like an idiot. But it's too late to take it back now. And I'll never be able to forget about it or just fade away, so I have no choice but to move forward. Dan joined in probably because of me too, and I left them behind today. I wonder how they're holding up against everyone…"

 _Come on Phos, I did that on my own accord, I don't blame you for anything._

"Hey, does this being that looks like me experience… death… King...?"

Taking a peek, I noticed a new human-like figure standing in front of Phos, resembling something like a queen from the 1700s. _Who's this?_

"Indeed," that figure replied with a familiar voice, "our shells are bu garments. We are but only flesh. And as such, we rot and fade away. Leaving not a trace behind," Ventrico finished as Phos dropped the bowl in awe.

"Oh this brings back memories!" Ventrico stretched as she swam forward. "We're close! It still smells just as it did before the Lunarians arrived."

Noticing Phos just standing there, Ventrico swam back.

"What now? Come along. You can't move once the sun sets, yes?"

"King…" Phos confirmed, pointing at Ventricosus.

"Indeed."

'What the heck ARE you?!"

"I'm me of course."

"But. Um… You always called yourself adorable and stuff, but you were really this ugly thing! And you said that was your real form!"

"Well, this is my truer true form. Drawing close to home has transformed me. I don't look that much different than you, do I?"

"Ummmm… I guess not," Phos conceded. "But you're all jiggly, you've got way more legs, and all those frills… You just became more… unbecoming?"

"Hush, you," Ventrico replied, taking a bit of offense.

"I mean especially those water jugs there," Phos said, pointing at Ventrico's, uh, um… chest. "What are those, even?"

I felt my face glow red as I facepalmed and slid back behind the cliff.

"These are my most precious of parts, you see. Praise to be them."

"Are you like those jellyfish?"

"How rude! My kind are far sexier, yes?"

"Yeah? I have no idea. Well if it means that you'll swim on your own, then fine," I heard Phos say.

"You can toss that. No point in carrying it, right?"

"Um. I couldn't! I'm supposed to treat all items with care. I've already taken it without asking. I can only imagine what will happen if I didn't bring it back...

Peeking out, I noticed that Phos had picked up the bowl and began walking, while Ventrico led the way.

 _Well, I can't slide down yet or they'll notice. I'll wait till they get just a bit forward._

"But hey," Phos said, why do we look so much alike?"

"That is not a question I am fully equipped to answer," was the reply from Ventrico. "What do you think?"

"Hmm. Maybe there were these jellyfish that were so taken by our beauty that they wished to be-"

"Let's toss that theory."

"I got it! Maybe there were these slugs that were so jealous of us that-"

"My, you were raised with little discipline, I see," Ventrico said as she turned around, prompting me to hastily get down just as I was about to get up.

"You not being 'fully equipped' to answer just means you're somewhat equipped to! You tell me."

"You know, sometimes you're surprisingly keen. I can just imagine the trouble that hunk must have with you."

She paused.

"But very well," Ventrico replied as she resumed moving forward.

"According to the legend of my people, this world was once inhabited by creatures called 'humans'."

I nearly tripped mid-slide. This is the first time I've heard the word "human" uttered by anyone here, now I'm really intrigued. But I still need to hide behind.

"Humans?" Phos asked.

"Until our planet waned for the fifth time these creatures endured, leaving on the land. But when the sixth came, they took to the sea, and so were split into soul, flesh and bone."

"Soul, flesh and bone? How did they live after being broken into three pieces? They sound pretty tough for an animal."

"Okay, so, not exactly," Ventrico clarified. "That was just a figure of speech. In actuality," she continued while her bottom half devoured some sea plant, "they gradually evolved, splitting into three species and surviving, to be more accurate. My people, the Admirabilis, are said to have come from their 'flesh'. From then, we inherited a cycle of reproduction and death," Ventrico went on, finishing "eating" the plant and swimming up, "during which we built upon our knowledge. The 'bones' on the other hand, they are said to have struck a deal with other lifeforms, gained longer lifespans, and returned over water."

"Do you think that's…"

"These are merely vague stories my people passed down," Ventrico clarified, swimming in front of Phos and lifting a finger. "I can say no more than that."

"But that's so close to the way we came about!" Phos exclaimed.

"Yes, I've sensed as much," Ventrico said, turning around and continued swimming up.

"For you see," Ventrico continued, "the 'soul' had found new lands, and is now said to seek out the flesh and bones to bring about a revival. It sounds just like them."

"The souls… The Lunarians…" Phos thought.

 _Dammit, not so high, I'm not sure if I can hide if Ventrico decides to look around._

"They're doing all this to become human again?"

"That I cannot say," was the reply as the king of the Admirabilis swooped down, making me softly sigh in relief.

"But we have our own ways," Ventrico continued. "The thought that we might now walk back down the path of history is hard to imagine. Their ways are both eerie and incomprehensible."

 _Says you, we humans are fine, thank you very much!_

"But like you said yourself, we have no choice but to move forward," Ventrico finished, turning round and swimming forward.

"We must fight for ourselves and those close to us."

"But why?" Phos asked, rushing forward to keep up with the king. _Thank God, I thought they'd never continue moving._ "Why does it have to be that way? If what you say is true, then the soul was once part of us, right?"

"Who knows?" Ventrico replied. "Though they have no enemies of their own, the Lunarians lust for battle and are never satiated. That senseless impatience of theirs… may speak volumes to what humans once were."

"If that's so, then both of us have definitely changed for the better. Our people should work together at least."

"Yes, indeed."

I had my thoughts on that comment, but I'll rather follow them and speak my mind after this. If I get the chance to, that is.

* * *

Much more walking. Or crawling, in my case. Thank God there's a really small hill here, so I'll be completely safe as long as I stay at the opposite side. _Where the hell are we, anyway?_

"We're here," Ventrico declared.

"I'm beat…" Phos replied, dropping the bowl and collapsing to her knees. "You made it sound like we were close, but it took all day…"

 _Why am i getting an increasingly-worsening gut feeling?_

"Just look at this place…" Phos commented, referring to the bare seabed ahead of her. "There's nothing here."

"Yep, I'm done," the peppermint gem declared, lying down and using the wooden bowl as a pillow. "I can't move another inch. Just gonna lay down for a bit. Wake me up once you're done."

"Much in the way you cherish that Cinnabar of yours, I too have someone of my own…" Ventrico said. _Goddamn, this feeling's getting really intense now. Why am I nervous all of a sudden?_

"Forgive me."

 _What? Why?_

I got my answer soon enough, as spears came down and broke off both of Phos' legs.

Phos reached out for Ventrico for a moment, before falling unconscious.

* * *

I stayed hidden as the Lunarians dropped a net into the water.

I stayed hidden as Ventrico loaded the remainder of Phos into said net.

I stayed hidden as they disappeared up the surface of the water.

 _Hell no I didn't come all the way here just to let Phos or I be taken away, but jumping out and confronting all of them would be suicide. I stayed hidden, but what do I do now?_

I looked at the bowl and the drifting-away parts of Phos' legs.

 _Ah, yes, now I have a job to do. Hell no Phos ain't gonna lose her memories._

Making sure that they won't return, I broke cover, swimming forward towards the bowl. Grabbing it, I immediately began to collect as many peppermint parts as I can that will fit into the bow.

"Gotcha, gotcha! Oh, there's one piece drifting away, got that! This one, that one! Ah, her left foot!"

It took a few minutes, but I somehow managed to salvage most of Phos' legs. Well, I can't tell, but they sure look mostly collected now.

"Great! But these pieces can be blown away by the current. Ah, I know!"

Carefully setting down the bowl, I took off my black overshirt. Kneeling down, I placed the smaller pieces inside the bowl, putting the larger pieces on the outside and wrapped and firmly tied the shirt around the bowl, securing all the pieces together.

Swimming back behind that hill, I sat down, hugging the bowl tightly.

"Great! Now, time to panic. Screw me, Phos has been taken, what do I do? Me going out will earn me a scolding from Sensei already, me losing Phos while I'm at it would make me hated by everyone. I'm sorry Phos, I'm really useless for someone harder than you-"

" _Follow your heart."_

The thoughts of that night thanks to Katsumi suddenly surfaced, naggingly.

"Follow my heart? Well…" I thought for a while, looking at the Lunarian cloud that hasn't left yet,.

 _That's my best bet at the moment, I guess I'll listen to it._

"I hope you're right, Katsumi-chi…" I thought out loud as I sat down, beginning to play the waiting game.

Noticing that the sunlight had turned orange, I worried about not making it before nightfall.

 _Pray that I can burn the midnight oil as per my past life._

* * *

Huge splash.

"Wha…"

Looking up, I saw an enormous shell fall into the water, hitting the seabed hard Said shell didn't even fully enter the water, there's some section sticking out of the water..

"What the hell is that?!" I blurted out.

Actually, two things. Something black fell out of the shell.

An underwater wave hit me, throwing me back. Holding onto the bowl towards my chest and digging my hands into the seabed, I barely held on.

There were too many bubbles around, but when they cleared enough for me to see, there's no black figure around.

I waited for a bit more, setting the bowl down and reinforcing its position by moulding the sand around it.

 _Hey, is that cloud disappearing?_

 _Hell yes, the Lunarians are defeated!_

As the cloud dissipated and the sun set, two figures hit the water.

 _Hey, who's that black-clothed person holding two tusk-like things with those, uh, tentacles? That's Ventrico for sure, holding onto Phos. Wait, holding onto Phos?!_

Making sure the bowl was anchored enough in the ground, I broke cover, throwing myself forward as hard as I can and allowing rage to envelope me.

"Hey, King!"

Ventrico turned around, and I could see the surprise in her face.

"I saw everything, you sure have some nerve betraying us! _Now I am going to let you pay for what you did to Phos!_ "

"Dan! Wait! Stop!" I heard her shout in the middle of me thinking about the different ways I could beat the king of the Admirabilis up.

Gaining back my cool, I tried to stop, but realized that the seabed was not within my reach.

"Get outta the way get outta the way GET OUTTA THE WA-mmmph!" I yelled as I slammed into Ventrico and stopped.

That was fine other than the fact that my face ended up _in her, uh, chest._

 _Huh? Huuuuh?_

I can feel my face glowing really red now.

Regaining my control and throwing my face out of her bust, I covered my face in embarrassment.

"I-I-I'm so, so, _so_ sorry! I didn't mean to d-do that! I was moving too fast and I couldn't stop, so I slammed into your chest! I'm sorry, I'm sorr-"

Hearing giggling, I stopped.

"Huh?"

Ventrico and the other Admirabilis were giggling, even Phos was in it too.

"Apology accepted," Ventrico replied while stopping herself from giggling, "I was right to call you cute."

"Ehhhh…" I managed to utter as I felt myself blush again.

"Still, you've got some nerve, betraying us. Then again, Phos is safe, I'm glad," I admitted. "What happened up there?"

"I wanted to give Phos in exchange for my brother here, Aculeatus," Ventrico explained, referring to the black-clothed guy. "He defeated the Lunarians and freed us all."

"I see," allowing myself to feel empathetic towards her actions. "To do anything for your family, that's how far you'd go, no?"

"Indeed."

"Listening to you," I said, feeling the last bits of my anger dissipate, "I don't feel angry about what you did. Still, thank you for bringing Phos back. Hey, what happened to your right arm?" I asked out of concern, looking at her missing arm. "Are you okay?"

"Ah, it's nothing, I guess I'll have to get used to it. I guess it's punishment for using Phos as a bargaining item, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you brought Phos back, and that's good enough.

'Here," Aculeatus offered the two tusks, "these should be able to work as your friend's new legs. They lost their old ones, as you can see."

"Oh, no need for that, hold on," I said as I quickly swam back. Glad that the bowl was still there, I picked it up and swam back.

"I managed to pick up the parts that I could find."

"Ah, thank goodness!" Ventrico said.

"Thank you, Dan…" Phos muttered. "I now owe you and Cinnabar my good-for-nothing live, how bad can this get…"

"No Phos, don't say that! You owe me nothing!"

"This one here is lucky to have you as a friend," Aculeatus chimed in, "but take these two pieces as a gift of apology. I'm pretty sure my sister would insist."

"Oh, I guess I'll have to accept it then," I said, taking the two tusks with my free hand. "Woah, they're heavy, but thanks."

"Heheh, you won't make it back home alone, would you? Come on, you hold Phos, Aculeatus will carry the two pieces while I'll hold the bowl," Ventrico offered.

I thought about it for a moment.

"You're right, thanks for the help."

Giving the two tusks back to Aculeatus, holding onto Phos with one hand while passing the bow to Ventrico, I looked down at the peppermint gem.

"My, my. You lost your left eye."

"Yeah, I did."

* * *

"You followed us all the way here. You're that worried about me, huh. I'm sorry."

"No, you did nothing wrong, no need to apologize to me. Rather, I said I'd protect you, and I didn't. I'm sorry."

"Don't say that, you couldn't do anything from there."

"But I should…"

We walked back in silence. Or, swam, in the case of Ventrico and Aculeatus.

"How did you follow us anyway?" Ventrico asked.

"I just crawled and shadowed you guys from behind, I'm lucky I wasn't spotted. You could have seen me on multiple times, you know."

"Indeed. On hindsight, it was fortunate that you remained hidden."

"I've heard everything you guys said, by the way," I added on, remembering something, "and I have a confession to make too."

"Hmm?" Everyone looked at me.

 _Do I really want to do this?_

 _Yes, I do. I can't keep it hidden forever._

I took a breath.

"Phos, remember when I said back then that I'd tell you certain things when the time is right?"

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Well," I hesitated for a little moment before shrugging it off, "I guess it's now. The truth is," I took a deep breath.

"I was a human."


	14. Chapter 14

**Author here, sorry for the slow progress, I've been quite busy. I'll make an effort to push out the story as quickly and as well as I can.**

 _Fourteen_

"Eh?" Phos asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I was once a human. Flesh, blood, bone and soul. That was me, from a previous life."

"Is that so?" Ventrico swam forward, looking at me. "Alright, tell me a date. Any date."

"Eh?" I was puzzled "Alright then. Maybe, April 10, AD 2016?"

Ventrico looked stunned.

"Only we Admirabilis knew the old calendar system, but as one that is unused. Tell me more, how does this calendar work?"

"One year equals twelve months, which is also 365 days, that's how long it takes for Earth to orbit once around the sun. However, every four years there's a leap year to compensate for the Earth not going one exactly full orbit, that year has 366 days, seen in February 28. Each month has a name, in order, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. After December 31st a new year starts, and the year count increases by one, like, say, 2000 to 2001. BC stands for Before Christ, anything there has its year count in reverse, while AD stands for anno Domini, which means 'the birth of Christ'. Or you can use BCE and CE, Before Common Era and Common Era," I explained to an increasingly-surprised Ventricosus and Aculeatus.

"No way, no way!" Ventrico gasped. "You're for real, even most of us had trouble remembering everything! And you knew the ancient name for our planet!"

"You were just born days ago," Phos muttered in shock.

"Yeah, but before that, I was from another world, where it's still tens of thousands of years behind this one," I explained. "I ended up here because I was given a second chance in life, and I accepted it. Sorry for keeping this from you, Phos."

"No, don't be. You're amazing, my little kouhai, you know that?" Phos said happily, throwing her arms around me in an embrace.

"Ehehe, it's nothing special, that's common knowledge for me."

"You're an interesting one, Danburite," Ventrico chimed in, "how was it like back then?"

"Well," I thought for a bit, "it's great. Back then the world was much different, we had continents instead of what we have now. We humans have discovered electricity, built machines, constructed buildings that can reach the clouds, improved on medical science so much some people actually can live up to a hundred years, used planes that can fly. That's not the full roster, but it's a really nice place to be."

"Fly?" Phos asked. "Like those insects?"

"Yeah. We even made it to the moon and came back, ya know?"

"Really?" Phos was fascinated. "Is that how the Lunarians got there?"

"I don't know, but it could be possible."

"Huh. Hey Dan, once we get back, you're going to tell me everything you know and I'll put it all into the encyclopedia. Everything," Phos said, staring at me.

I giggled. "Yeah, I will. But keep it a secret for now, please?"

"Alright."

"You humans," Ventrico popped in, "don't you eat other animals too?"

"Ah, that's right too, we're omnivores."

"What's an omnivore?" Phos asked.

"Well, omnivores eat both flesh and plants, certain ones of course. We actually take the meat, cook it over heat and consume, it's warm and tastes good that way."

"Told you, eerie…" Ventrico whispered to Phos.

"Hey, I heard that! Still, yeah, perhaps it takes the life of an animal, but most of us end them with dignity, minimal violence. Also, the way I see it, you only disrespect them when you don't finish your share of meat; that way, you're kinda disrespecting the animal that died for you to eat."

"Hmm…" Aculeatus thought. "Very thoughtful, if any."

"Unlike the Lunarians…" Phos mumbled.

"Speaking of which, I don't believe they represent the spirit of humans, them being _that_ shrewd. If anything, I think they're rejects."

"Bold statement," Ventrico commented while smirking at my statement, "best not to let them hear that."

"Yeah, that's a given. Anyway, enough of me; Ventrico, how are you going to rebuild your civilization?"

"Well, we'll have to get everyone back from the moon first. After that, I'm not too sure actually. That's not a question I'm equipped to answer."

"Ah. Either way, good luck."

"Thank you, Danburite."

"It's nothing. By the way," I added on, "it's almost pitch black here, we're moving blind. Are we going the right way?"

"Of course we are," Ventrico clarified.

"Great, but this is taking a bit too long, everyone else must be worried sick. Plus," I yawned, "I'm getting tired."

Ventrico thought for a moment.

"I have an idea. Aculeatus, let Phos hold those two," she promptly said, which her brother complied.

"Now grab onto Dan, we're going to swim there. It's faster, we should get there within minutes."

"Alright, sister. Hey, hold onto your friend tight, alright?"

"Yeah, holding onto her well. Phos, hold those two, alright?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Okay," Ventrico said happily, "let's go!"

"Woah!"

* * *

"We're close now!"

"Damn, that was fast!"

"It is, isn't it? Hey look, that light in the sea. Ah, my Diamond!"

"We can't be spotted. Ventrico, can you try going round them?"

"That's not an issue. Hey, let's drop you two off at that cave, alright?"

"Sure. What about you, Phos?"

"It's fine."

Minutes later, the four of us are still underwater, the Cave of Emptiness just right ahead of us. Phos and I opted to go up ourselves, so here am I, carrying Phos, who was holding onto the two tusk-like things and the bowl with their shards.

"So," I asked, "will I ever see you two again?"

"That is yet another question I am not equipped to answer," Ventrico replied. "That being said, hopefully that will be the case. Ah, I need to pass you this," Ventrico said, handing me the broken portion of Phos' face."

"Ah, you had it all along? Thanks."

"It's nothing. Well, you better start walking before those final rays of sun disappear."

"It's goodbye then, huh. Good luck getting your people back."

"All the best for you two too."

Watching them turn around and swim away, I decided it was time for us to go too. I'm already starting to miss them.

"Alright Phos, let's get back to shore."

"He, Dan."

"Yeah?"

"Your powder finish is gone."

"Ah," I finally noticed, looking at my bare skin, "looks like it did. I didn't come in with the resin, but you look just the same. The multiple layers of resin worked, didn't it?"

Phos chuckled. "Yeah, it sure did."

I walked on in silence.

"Hey, Dan?"

"What is it?"

"When Sensei gets mad… what are you going to do?"

"Stick with you, of course," I replied immediately. "I'm not leaving you alone."

"I got you into this mess, and you saved me. I really need to change myself, don't I?"

"That's entirely your choice, but please don't change too much. I honestly like you the way you are, you know."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You're almost perfect the way you are, Phos, I don't want to see you become someone else."

A bit more silence.

"You know…" Phos began.

"Hm?"

"I turn 300 today."

"Wow, really? Happy birthday!"

"Eheh, thanks. It's nothing we celebrate much though."

"Hey, you're still wearing Red Beryl's prototype," I noticed. "They didn't get you to return it?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess I'll have to return that later."

Just a bit more small talk as I approached the surface.

I'm close to the cave now, just a bit more and I'll be out of the water.

"Alright, I'll try to hold you and these stuff up, it gets harder when you're out of the water. You take your rest, I'll handle this."

"Mmm…"

Breaking the surface, the weight on my arms got heavier the more I stepped out.

"God, this is heavier than I expected. Well, let's see if I can hold this."

I only managed to last to the entrance of the cave before I felt cracking and was forced to put Phos down as gently as I can.

"Damn, I'm not strong enough. Or I'm just too tired…" I managed to mutter before falling down in exhaustion.

 _Maybe a shut-eye for a while would work…_

* * *

Opening my eyes, I felt myself being dragged on the ground.

"Nhn, huh?"

Before I could react quickly enough, I was pushed to lean against a wall. Looking up, I noticed a few drops of mercury floating around.

"Ah, hello Cinnabar."

All I got was a stare from the red gem.

"Sorry for troubling you. Thanks for dragging me and, ah, Phos back," I thanked, confirming with a glance that Phos was with me.

"Next time… I'll be the one saving you…" Phos muttered as Cinnabar walked away.

"Let's… just rest until someone comes…" I mumbled, making sure that the bowl, two pieces and Phos' face piece are still here.

No reply. Phos must be too tired already.

I sighed, closing my eyes. Somehow I couldn't go back to sleep.

Hearing clanking, I opened my eyes, noticing that I've let the tusk-like piece I was holding roll forward.

I'm tired too, I'll just pick it up later.

* * *

Feeling tremors, I barely came back to consciousness.

 _Hey… what's going on?_

… _. Probably nothing, must be a dream…_

It was only when the "tremors" got louder, followed by me noticing some light being shone and an increasingly-intense feeling of subconscious fear that prevented me from falling asleep, then I finally got enough of my senses back.

Opening my eyes, the first person I saw was Obsidian staring at something. Or _someone_. Seems like I'm lying against Rutile's table too. That aside, there was something I was more concerned about.

"Hey…" I muttered, incorrectly deducing in my mind that the jellyfish lights gave me just a bit of energy for me to rouse from my slumber, "why is the ceiling cracking?"

"Sensei…" I heard someone say. Turning my head, I noticed Euclase too, with some cries of fear behind me. _Hey, sounds like Jade._

It was also only when said tremors got unnaturally heavy that I felt my adrenaline (or whatever the gem equivalent was) pump.

Quickly turning my head around while I really woke up, I noticed that the origins of everything came from a Sensei that looked pissed off. I mean, _really._

"S-sensei?" I heard Rutile stammer.

 _Yeah, here comes my imminent end._

 _Katsumi, please live on for me._

"Ugh, I just only applied a layer of glue!" I heard the doctor comment anxiously. "J-jade, can't you do something?!"

"EVERYONE FALL BACK!" I heard the speaker shout.

"Let's hide!" Red Beryl shouted to Euclase as the both of them ran away.

"Always trying to cover your own back, are you?!" Rutile angrily said, grabbing Jade by the tie.

"You can't expect me to just not report this to Sensei!" was the reply. "Go now, get out of here!"

"But…"

"If you crumble out here, who's going to put you back together?"

Rutile walked over to the both of us.

"Alright then, you two. Be ready to face your punishments."

"Haaaaaa…" was the reply from Phos.

As all of the other gems hid behind the nearby pillars, Phos sat up, facing Sensei. I felt myself search for Phos' arm and grab it as I got up into a squat.

Sensei has his eyes closed. Sure, I've seen his anger, but this is the first time it's going to be directed onto me.

 _Actually, thinking about it, that caning was way worse,_ I thought as I tried to calm myself down. _Why the hell am I this scared?_

Sensei slowly opened his eyes. I heard those gems quickly hide behind the pillars for real.

"I'm in this together with you," I muttered to Phos, feeling my grasp on her wrist tighten.

"Why you two…" Sensei began.

 _Oh great, here it comes. I survived once, I don't have the blessing to survive another._

"INSOLENT FOOLS!"

Phos and I were thrown back. Hard. I swore I felt something crack.

 _Oh no, Phos' arms shattered._

Looking to my side, I saw Phos blown off the table and heading straight to the floor.

"Phos!"

Fortunately, Sensei held them, along with holding onto their broken arms.

I hit the floor backfirst. I can feel myself crack on impact, but it was fortunate that nothing broke.

That didn't matter, Phos was fine.

"The sea was… frightening…" I heard her told Sensei.

"I will hear your full reports tomorrow," was the reply.

"I'll try harder starting tomor-"

"And with that report…" Sensei interrupted, "I hereby call off the production of your encyclopedia."

"Huh?" I heard from behind us.

* * *

I got the bare minimum of sleep I needed, but the sun made sure I was up and running early in the morning. Somehow. I spent the whole night sleeping at Rutile's corner while the doctor patched both Phos and I up.

Rutile was glad that I've saved Phos' legs, but as it turns out, I really didn't manage to save all the pieces.

Ah, right. I've gotten back my skin's powder finish as well as my black overshirt, but apparently Rutile was running low on the powder. On Phos' insistence the doctor used the remainder on me, but on my suggestion only the visible sections of my skin were powdered. Roll down my socks or take off my clothes and you'll notice that whatever skin that's covered by cloth has no powder applied on it.

Furthermore, my share of powder ran out before Rutile could apply them on my arms, so here am I with black gloves similar to the ones Phos was wearing some time back.

"Now then…" Rutile said. "You're lucky Danburite managed to save most of your legs, but you're still missing at least a quarter of each. What are we going to do?"

I looked at where there were supposed to be the rest of Phos' legs as the peppermint gem stared blankly into the ceiling, now dressed in her sleeping robes. At the sides, Euclase and Jade sat there slumped, sleeping.

"Well," the doctor continued as she walked, "if I'm being honest here, our only choice is to make use of these things here."

Ah, they was referring to the tusk-like objects. "What are those anyway?" I asked.

"When we lose a portion of our bodies," Rutile explained, "we must replace it with a similar material with no microorganisms, no inclusions, living inside of it. But," she stopped as she grabbed the two "tusks" up, "I was unable to procure enough of such material for two legs' worth. These here, outside it's weak, even weaker than Phos. But the inside is made up of a quartz called agate. It has a hardness of seven, while Phos is only a three-and-a-half."

"Oooooh," I replied, fascinated. "Does that mean Phos' legs will become stronger?"

"That'll be a bit crude, but if we break it down and mix it with pieces of Phos, it'll roughly match their level. That'll be a no, since we don't want the new material to be too taxing."

"Hey," the doctor looked at Phos, "are you listening? Phos!"

Phos' eyes closed a little.

"I hear you, but the whole losing my job thing kinda makes it hard to focus."

Phos has a point, even I want to continue working on that encyclopedia.

"Now you listen to me. The reason your work has been put on hold is because Sensei is worried about you two as the youngest ones amongst us," Rutile consoled as she walked towards the table.

The doctor sighed.

"Plus, everytime you go off to do something it really wears down on the others. In truth, that is probably the main reason."

"Probably, yeah," was the reply from Phos.

"You're now a senior for a younger gem too," Rutile continued, turning to look at me, "what will happen if they turn out like you?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing," I replied cheekily.

"Come on Danburite, please don't."

"I guess I'll better just break into bits again to apologize," Phos muttered, turning her head towards Rutile.

"Come on now!" was the reply as the doctor pushed the agate towards Phos' view. "Think of this as your last task on the job. Tell me what exactly this thing you washed up with is, I'm hesitant to try attaching this to you."

Phos leaned up and looked at the agate.

"Ki…"

"Ki?"

"Kin…"

"Kin?!"

"Kind of like a shell?" Phos finished.

"Oh," Rutile realized while they relaxed back, "now that you mentioned it, shells are known to sometimes transform into agate. In that case…"

"Are those things really fit to be legs?" Phos sat up. "Will they even move?"

"Whether they can be attached and whether they will move are two different things. Whether or not they will move will depend on how the inclusions living inside you take to to their new home."

"So, what do we do now?" I chimed in.

"Judging from the missing sections, we will probably only need one of these pieces, the other can be kept here. We will break down Phos' remaining legs and mix in these inclusions with the pieces. Would probably need to completely redo everything as far as the legs are concerned."

"I see. Can I help?"

Rutile looked at me.

"Sure thing, I'm about to start now. Alright, get here, I'll tell you what to do."

* * *

"Take it easy," Rutile said as Phos began to get up.

"Good, just like that."

"Woah!"

With me supporting her, Phos attempted to stand up, but fell forward. Had it not been for Red Beryl and Jade she would have hit the floor.

Phos sat down.

"Th-they're just sticks!"

It's afternoon now, and Phos' new legs are done. Rutile and I cut off Phos' remaining sections of legs, broke them up completely and completely remade them piece by piece. The new legs have brown swirls moving downwards, something like the lights of a barber shop, only thinner and consisting of only white and brown.

"I feel like I've just have fancy twigs for legs!" Phos muttered, clearly in shock.

"Well, rocks, perhaps." Rutile answered, resting her head on her hands. "No good?"

"Well," Red Beryl comforted, "let's just take our time with rehabilitation, shall we? They'll start moving sooner or later, no worries!" she answered with a smile.

"I'll help out between shifts," Euclase offered.

"No sense in getting worried just yet," Jade said.

"Thanks, Red Beryl, Euclase, Jade…" Phos said.


	15. Chapter 15

_Fifteen_

"Phos!" Red Beryl called cheerfully as she squatted down, holding Phos' hands.

We're out in the open, with Phos sitting on a wooden stool. Rutile was finally sleeping behind, lying on the side seats. The doctor deserves some rest, being up for so long.

"Sit out here, get some sun, and I'm sure the inclusions will get to work!" Red Beryl cheerfully told Phos.

"I know! I'll make you some cute pyjamas!"

"Thanks."

Hm? Pyjamas for?

"Right here you'll be able to call Rutile when you need," Euclase said. "Sorry about this," they added on, turning back to look at Rutile.

"Do you remember anything about the Lunarians?" Alexandrite popped out of nowhere, looking at Phos with eagerness. "Well? What were they like up close? Well? Well?!"

"Alex, now's not the time!" Red Beryl cheerfully stopped the other peppermint-colored gem, placing both her arms on her shoulders.

* * *

"See you later!" Red Beryl bade goodbye as everyone else walked off.

Alexandrite looked back anxiously.

"The Lunarians…" they muttered as they walked away.

Waving goodbye, Phos sighed, stopped and look down, touching her legs.

"These things look kind of weird, huh."

"A bit, but it's not bad," I replied, sitting on the ground beside her.

"Hmm…"

Phos suddenly grabbed onto her left leg.

"Move!"

She leaned back too much and fell backwards.

"Woah!"

Luckily I was there to catch her.

"Phew! Thanks, Dan."

"No problem, what are friends for?"

Putting Phos back properly into position, I returned to sitting on the ground beside her.

"Hey, Dan."

"Yeah?"

"About what you said last night…"

"Ah, yeah. Can we keep that between us? A secret we'll share, alright?"

"No problem."

A bit more silence.

"Hey, Dan."

"What is it?"

"Do you want to work on the encyclopedia?"

"Of course! But… Sensei stopped it…"

"Me too…."

"Hey," I said as an idea popped up, "why don't we work on it in secret?"

"In secret?"

"Yeah! Nobody would know and we'll still get to do our stuff!"

"Great idea! Then we'll be able to find a fun job for Cinnabar too!"

"Yeah!"

"Cinnabar…" Phos faltered, losing her initial enthusiasm and looking down at her legs. "How can I be worse off than when I started?" she muttered.

"Huh? No, no, no!" She suddenly cried out, shaking her legs and jumping up. "No getting all weak-kneed now!"

"Woah, Phos…" I muttered, quickly getting up.

Noticing that they themself is now standing, Phos lifted up one of their legs and stared at it in shock.

She then attempted to balance on just one leg, which worked brilliantly.

"Woah…" we both muttered.

"Congratulations, you can walk!" I shouted excitedly.

"They move!" Phos exclaimed with the same amount of excitement. "All right!"

"Quiet down…" I heard Rutile mutter in her sleep.

"Hey Phos, let's test them out! Can we run? Can we run!?"

"Sure!" was the reply as the peppermint gem launched at amazing speed.

"Woah…. Hey, wait up, wait up! Phos, slow down!"

* * *

Dammit, I completely lost her. Phos is amazing, I can't even maintain my distance in between the both of us.

Stopping in the middle of the grasslands and catching my breath, I looked around.

Guess I'm alone now. _Do I head back now?_

 _Eh, I think I'll just laze around here._

I decided to simply take a long stroll around, perhaps run into Phos later.

As I walked, I allowed myself to think about various things.

 _I'm left alone again, am I not? But this is still different, everyone around has been really kind and supportive to me, and I really like it._

I eventually stopped moving and stared blankly at the grass.

 _Still, I'm still left behind. Everyone moves ahead, going after things they want to go after._

 _Except me. I'm always lagging behind, it has always been that way. Results, sports, companionship, happiness, I lag behind in all of this._

I sighed.

 _Maybe this is just who I am. A slow girl, always inferior to anyone and everyone. Someone nobody really wants._

I felt something land on my head. Looking up, I noticed that the sky has darkened, dark clouds completely covering the blue sky as far as I could see.

 _Hey, isn't this a bit cliche? Whatever, it's just a mere coincidence._

As the rain began to fall, I looked around.

 _When I was a kid, I remember loving the rain, but my parents wouldn't allow me to play in it. They're worried about me getting a cold, so I understand. Now though… As a gem, illnesses do not exist, right? Guess I can just enjoy the cold rain hitting on me for as long as I want._

I sat down, looking at the sky above. The drizzle had now escalated into a heavy downpour. Just like the ones I like.

The cold wind blew, the raindrops pelting on my hard, gem body. Hopefully that powder finish is at least resistant to freshwater.

 _Hey, I should take a nap here, it's really relaxing._

Laying down on the ground, I closed my eyes.

* * *

"... oooi. Ooooooi! OOOOOOI!"

Jumping up in shock, I fumbled, tripped and fell, landing on my butt.

"Phos?"

"Nope, Yellow Diamond. You shouldn't sleep out here in the open, good thing it was raining so the Lunarians wouldn't come out."

"Ah, Yellow Diamond." Looking around, I've noticed that the rain has stopped, the sun back up in the blue sky.

"Phos is back at the school, by the way. They crazy fast legs left you behind, didn't they?"

"Eheh, yeah."

"I need you to come back with me now, Dan. Phos is going into combat and they need a partner, do you want to be the one looking after Phos?"

"Really? Of course! They're weak, so as a junior I need to look out for them."

"That's good to hear. Also, your report to Sensei too. Here," the oldest gem around offered her hand, which I took.

"Thanks," I replied as I got up. "We're going back now?"

"Yeah, we are."

The sky reddened as the sun began to set.

* * *

"... and Ventrico only did so to get back her people. Please, Sensei, don't blame her."

Yellow Diamond and I are back at the school, where I just finished giving my report to Sensei in the presence of Phos and Rutile.

"Your actions have been reckless, young Danburite. However, without you, Phos would have been in a worse shape than what they are now. With that, I thank you."

"Ehhh, no need for that, Sensei! If there's anything, I should thank you instead for not punishing me…"

Sensei just placed his hand on my head.

"It is all okay, young one. Don't worry about it."

"O-okay," I replied, feeling myself blush. _Dammit, why do I blush this easily?_

"Now then," Sensei moved on, turning to Phos, "let us hear your side of the happenings at sea."

"Oh, right," the peppermint-haired gem replied. "Uh, the sea was wide and big, and…"

"Sensei," Rutile chimed in, "Phos has lost nearly one fifth of her memories belonging to the former legs."

"Understood. Just tell me what you remember as it comes to mind."

"Well… King was actually larger and looks different, she transformed as we got closer to her old city. And…"

Phos went silent for a bit.

"Ah, humans…"

I saw Sensei flinch in shock.

"Hu...mans?" Yellow Diamond clarified.

"Yeah… King had a story passed down her people… Humans were creatures who once inhabited this world, but retreated into the sea after the sixth moon hit… ways are eerie…"

Hearing a crack, I peeked back and noticed that Sensei had cracked a small section of the table.

"The 'flesh' of them became the Admirabilis… the 'bones' struck a deal, became us and went back to land... the 'soul' fled to the moon and became the Lunarians…"

Even more cracking. Seems like Rutile and Yellow Diamond had noticed that too.

"Also…" Phos went on, looking up at me.

I gave her a "please don't say it" look.

"Ah, sorry. That's all I remember."

I sighed in relief internally.

"Very well," Sensei acknowledged, turning around ad facing outside.

"Sensei," Yellow Diamond asked, "what are humans?"

"You are all dismissed," was the only reply we got from him.

* * *

"Sensei seemed a bit off, didn't he?" Yellow Diamond commented.

"Yeah," Rutile replied, "it was probably frustrating because Phos remembered nothing from the sea. Other than that 'human' part, of course."

"What are they, anyway?"

Yellow Diamond and Rutiled walked ahead, while Phos and I trailed behind. Night had already fallen, with the jellyfish lighting up the corridors.

"Hey, Phos."

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

"Ah, it's nothing. It's a secret that I'll keep for you, don't worry," the peppermint gem replied with a comforting smile.

I returned the smile.

"Back to our rooms, I guess?"

"Not yet, gonna look for Amethyst first tonight."

"Ah, alright, goodnight then. See ya tomorrow!"

* * *

"I'm back, Katsumi!"

"Yeah, what took you so long?"

"Ehehe, unforeseen circumstances. You weren't bored, were you?"

"Hehe, of course not, I took the time to explore the place! I walked around everywhere, it was interesting.

"Walked? You were in this form the whole time?" I asked, looking at the girl sitting on my bed.

"Yep, nobody saw me! By the way, remember the gift I mentioned?"

"Huh? Yeah, I do, what with it?"

Katsumi giggled. "Here it is!"

Reaching for her back, she pulled out two orange objects about 6 inches long and an inch wide, each consisting of two metal "sticks" attached to a single center "piece" at the top. The single row of circular holes, facing towards me and funneling inwards for a bit before going in perpendicularly, gave them the necessary detail, away from the appearance as mere "sticks".

Looking closer, I realized that each object has a hidden red blade, about 5 and a half inches long, facing downwards inside between the two "sticks".

I recognized what those are.

"Ehh, butterfly knives?"

"Yep!" was the cheerful reply I got. "I know, sounds cliche, me carrying butterfly knives, but I used them before I got these sweet, sweet daggers! Here, I really want you to have these!"

"Thanks, but why?"

"Self defense, silly! Well, perhaps not, they can't exactly block whatever those Lunarians throw at you. But hey, not everything needs a reason, right? Come on, just take them! One hand for each!"

"Well, alright I guess, thanks."

"No problem, just take them now!" Katsumi encouraged impatiently.

Looking at her, then at the butterfly knives, I did as I was told, grabbing one of them with each hand.

"Hey, why do they feel warm?"

"It's like that, now they recognize you as their wielder. Flip them out, that's the only way they'll unlock their full abilities for you!"

"Hm? But how-" I wanted to ask before I recalled how to flip them open.

Only that I have never used a butterfly knife before.

"You got it? These knives will give you with my knowledge, my moves, my skills, my tactics! But they're closed, so you only know how to flip them open," Katsumi pouted. "Open them for me, please?"

"Eheh, alright."

Twirling both knives, I flipped them open and grasped onto them tightly.

"Now, don't let go, please!"

"Huh? But wh- woah!"

Red, glowing lines that weren't there had appeared, starting from the tip of the blade before proceeding down to the handle and up to my hands.

"Hey, it's getting hot, the heat travels up those lines?"

"Yep! Hold onto them, it'll stop being hot once they've imprinted themselves on you. Keep holding, don't let them go!"

The red lines glowed up and around my hands, arms, and shoulders bringing along an intense heat I could barely tolerate.

"Argh!"

The lines split, one half travelling downwards to the rest of my body while the other half went up towards my neck.

"Don't give up, Dan! You can do this!"

As I felt the heat consume my whole body, I held back the urge to scream in pain.

Suddenly, it all stopped, and all that was left was a very comfortable warmth.

"Hahah! Congrats! You passed! I'm so proud of you!" Katsumi cried out happily as she hugged me.

"Hey, watch the blades!"

"I know, I know! Here, look into this small mirror," she urged, pulling out a pocket mirror and opening it.

Looking at my own reflection, I noticed that I now bear the same lines as Katsumi had when she wielded her daggers. My black-and-white clothes, previously having only those two colors, also had these red, glowing details on them. Turning around, I noticed that these lines run everywhere around my body as long as it's on skin or clothes above skin.

"Wow."

"You look brilliant! Now you can close them up."

I twirled the knives and closed them up. The lines on my body and on the knives immediately faded away.

"These knives aren't things that anybody can just hold," Katsumi explained, "usually opening them would scald an ordinary person until they dropped them. But you, you're different, you're both worthy and the closest thing I have to a counterpart that isn't a copy of me in any way."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're the closest. Those knives like me, they like you too. They're yours now."

"Mmh. Thanks."

"No problem!"

I sat down on the bed, beside Katsumi.

A few moments of silence.

"Oh! I forgot!"

"What is it?"

"Here," Katsumi pulled out, "their holders. Stand up and turn around, let me attach them onto your belt."

I did as she told, and she began attaching them onto my belt.

"Alright, the knives told you this already, but these holders are attached to your belt via clip, pulling them out is easy when you want to remove them. Blade side in first, left holder for left knife, right holder for right knife. You'll hear and feel a click when you properly put them in, and it's not hard to pull them out," she said as she finished with the attachments and then proceeded to grope my rear.

"Eeeeh?"

"Hey, did anyone tell you that you have a cute ass?" Katsumi cheekily commented as she stopped and slapped it.

"Ow!"

That wasn't me, that was Katsumi.

"Hehe, I'm hard, aren't I?" I taunted as I turned around, trying to stop my blush. "Perks of being made out of essentially solid rock?"

"Perks of being made out of essentially solid rock," she confirmed with a smile. "And now," she finished as she turned back into a butterfly in a flash and taking her spot high on the wall, "time to sleep!"

Looking at her, I smiled. "G'nite then, I guess."

"Yeah, g'nite."

* * *

 _Running._

 _Running in the rain, stepping on puddles, in a grey world._

 _This is my worst nightmare._

 _I've been here multiple times before. But I am never going to get used to it._

" _You ungrateful brat! Get back here!"_

 _Turning around, I saw the principal chasing after me._

 _I looked forward and pressed on harder._

" _Stop running!" I heard a collective shout._

 _Turning back again, I saw my class chasing me along with the principal too. Panicking more, I looked forward and kept focusing ahead._

" _This only gets worse as you run, Nicole," the voice of the guy who started it all said. "Stop and it'll still be worse. I told you, I will make your life a living hell."_

" _No!" I shouted._

 _Looking back yet again, I saw a whole group of people chasing me now. My parents. The principal. Teachers. Students. Strangers._

 _They're all coming after me._

 _I turned forward and immediately stopped, terrified._

 _The monster in my dreams. The one plaguing me since I was a kid. My very worst fear._

 _I stumbled as I turned back. But the group is already close, surrounding me in a circle, getting darker and unrecognizable._

 _The monster grew taller, larger, scarier._

 _I crawled back in extreme fear, hyperventilating._

" _No, no, no, No! NO! NO!"_

 _The monster raised his claws and swung them, my eyes kept open no matter how I wanted them to shut._

 _Only this time, I didn't wake up yet._

 _I felt my head roll on the ground, eventually coming to a stop._

 _I looked at my shattered body, stunned and unable to do anything._

" _Huh?"_

 _This has never occurred before._

 _Everything faded away._

 _Sunshine and grass appeared. This is the grassland!_

" _Dan! Dan!"_

 _Looking ahead, I saw a familiar peppermint gem run towards me._

" _P… Phos?" I managed to finally utter._

 _Phos slowed down and squatted down, turning my head so that I can see her face._

" _That's right, it's me. You're okay now. Safe with me."_

 _I felt tears of relief roll down my eyes._

 _Phos picked up my head, turned it upright and kissed my forehead._

" _You're safe with us all," she reaffirmed, holding me upwards. Behind her, everyone was here._

 _Kongo-sensei. To his right, Cinnabar. Dia. Rutile. Bort. Red Beryl. Euclase. Morganite. Goshenite. Sphene. Peridot. Amethysts. Neptunite. Jade._

 _To his left, Obsidian. Yellow Dia. Zircon. Ghost Quartz. Obsidian. Alexandrite. Hemimorphite. Watermelon Tourmaline. Benitoite._

 _All of them are smiling warmly. Smiling at me._

 _I felt more tears down my cheeks as I broke into a warm smile._

 _At last, I have a happy ending._

* * *

"...an! Dan!"

"Huh?"

Opening my eyes, I noticed Katsumi standing beside me. The sun was already up.

"Were you crying in your sleep?"

"Well, maybe…" I replied, sitting up. Feeling my face, I felt no tears.

"You're a gem, so looks like you have no tears. You do have cracks though," Katsumi noticed, showing me her mirror.

She was right, I do have tear-like cracks down to my cheeks.

"Eh, I'll just get some powder later."

"Alright. Bad dream?"

"Yeah, really bad dream. With a good ending, though."

"Ehehe, that's good. By the way, Phos is out for patrol now, you're going to be lonely today."

"Really?"

"She was carrying her sword yesterday, didn't you notice?"

"Ah, no, I didn't…"


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello, author here. Just a small alteration in continuity, to fix a translation error seen in the anime and stick to the proper term, Phos (and Dan in this timeline) promised Cinnabar to find a new job that's fun, instead of just simply a "better job".**

 _Sixteen_

"Hey, Dan, let me see you open the knives again!"

"Sure thing," I replied, flipping the balisong knives open and feeling the familiar warmth return.

It's been a few minutes since I woke up, and after I changed my clothes and tied my hair I figured that I'll stay in my room for a bit more.

"Nice! Oh, hey, you eyes are orange now! That means these knives integrated into you properly overnight, like me and my daggers!"

"Really? Nice!"

Flipping the knives closed and putting them back into their holders, I sat on the bed.

"Well, what now?"

"You should go walk around, explore some things, something like that. Or," Katsumi pondered with a cheeky grin, "you can duel me!"

"Duel you?"

"Yeah! The knives gave you my skills, but you can develop your own and add on to that!"

"Sounds fun, but let's do it in the night sometime. Don't want others to see you, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. So, walk around? I'll be lazing here, maybe flying around, alright?"

"Yeah, sure thing!"

"Right, fix those cracks too."

* * *

 _Now, what do I do?_

As per what Katsumi suggested to me, I'm now just walking around the school, now knowing where to really go.

Without Phos around, I'm bored.

"Ah! I know!"

* * *

"Hey, Rutile."

"Morning, Danburite. Phos has gone out with Amethyst on her first patrol, that's why they're not around."

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. By the way, can I have some powder to fix these cracks?"

"Hm? What cracks?" Rutile asked as she turned around to look at me.

"Woah, were you crying?"

"Maybe, in my sleep."

"Cracks like these only form under immense sadness," Rutile commented as she analyzed the cracks, "had a nightmare?"

"Well, you can say that."

"Mmm-hmm. Powder should cover that up well." The doctor reached for the powder jar and brush.

"Now, close your eyes."

As Rutile brushed the powder on my cracks, I began to think about that dream.

 _What the hell happened? It should have ended before I was hit._

 _Is God messing with my head?_

 _Why did Phos_ kiss _me?_

"Alright, it's done, you can open your eyes."

"I'm out of powder now," Rutile sighed as I opened my eyes. "Right, you're alone here today?"

"Yeah, somewhat."

"Go look for Sensei, that's what you can do. He wanted to give you your new sword alongside Phos, but you were napping in the rain yesterday."

"Ehehe..."

"Alright, go look for him, I'll go back to work."

"Sure thing, thanks doc!"

Waving goodbye, Rutile turned around and went back to whatever they were doing.

* * *

"Sensei, were you looking for me yesterday?"

"I was, you were supposed to receive your weapon along with Phosphophyllite. But I forgot about it, my apologies.

"No worries, it's not an issue."

"Hmm…" Sensei replied. "Obsidian."

"Yeeees!"

"Bring us a medium-weight sword."

The black gem grabbed a sword and walked towards Sensei.

"Just as you requested!" they cheerfully replied as she held the sword out.

Grabbing it with one hand, Sensei took the sword and moved it in front of me.

With both hands, I held onto it, bracing myself for the weight.

Sensei let go.

 _Hey, it's not that heavy. That being said though…_

"Too heavy for my liking, Sensei. Can I have a lighter one?"

Sensei turned around and looked at Obsidian, who nodded and went to take another.

I went through some three or more swords, before I narrowed my choices down to just two.

"A heavier sword is more durable, but a lighter sword is more agile. Choose wisely, Danburite."

"Hmm…" I pondered, comparing both swords.

"I'll take this lighter one, it's more suitable for me."

"Very well," was the reply as Sensei gave the heavier sword back to Obsidian, who went back to her station.

"Hey, Sensei," I decided to prod a bit, "what happened yesterday? You broke your table when Phos mentioned 'humans'..."

Silence.

"Sensei," Obsidian popped in, "what are 'humans'?"

"An ancient species of creature that lived before us," was the reply.

"Hm? That's all?"

"Yes, that is all. Danburite, you are dismissed."

"Yes, Sensei."

Sensei put his hand on my head. "Don't go looking for trouble."

"O-okay, I can do that."

* * *

"Everyone is out, and I'm alone. I should have accepted Katsumi's sparring practice. Speaking of which…"

I put down my sword, took out my knives and looked at them.

"You think I'm worthy, but I'm just someone who's always lagging behind. You really think I'll be a good owner?"

I twirled and put the butterfly knives back in their holders. Picking up the sword, I decided to go out for a little walk.

Yeah, I really am lonely today.

Staring blankly on the grassland, I pondered about various things.

 _I'm always two steps behind, two steps slower, walking behind everyone's shadows. I'm never first, I've never been able to lead anything. A train is a remarkable, powerful vehicle but it cannot operate without its tracks. I'm basically that train with no track I can put down myself._

 _Nobody liked me back then. I guess that was a justified attitude towards me._

I sighed.

"I'm useless."

Something smacked hard on the back of my head, throwing me out of my thoughts and making me stumble forward.

"Hey, what was tha- oh. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it sure has," God replied.

A bit more silence.

"How long have you been behind me?"

"Not too long, but like they said, I'm everywhere. Well, how have you been finding this world?"

"It's perfect, much better than anything from _there_ , of course."

"So why were you muttering about being useless before I smacked you?"

"..."

"Hmm, well?"

"... It's just that… I don't think I'm ever any use to anyone here at all."

"Let's hear your elaboration." God encouraged, listening.

"Well… I've been tagging along with the others, not exactly being pretty helpful too. I just feel so useless, like I'm just simply a sack of sand being lugged around. Even if I want to do something different, I don't know what to do."

"Ah, I've heard that a lot," God replied, turning around and walking for a bit. "People who want to do things, people who want to change the world, they all have great plans. But they don't know where to begin. And yet," he said, stopping and turning around to face me, "you already have begun."

"Huh?"

"Have you forgotten that you saved parts of Phos after her legs were hit by the Lunarians underwater?" God asked, walking back towards me.

"No, of course no- oh?" I realized

"Yeah, think about what would have happened if you weren't there at that time. What would you think would happen?"

"Phos would lose her legs completely."

"That's right. And the memories placed within them," God added on. "Furthermore, you went after her on your own accord, no?"

"Yeah, I see where you're coming from," I replied, realizing that I hadn't been exactly lazing around.

"See Nicole, or let's just use Danburite. That's a problem with you; you're always feeling inferior even when you're not. Modesty is important, but not giving yourself any credit, even well-deserved ones, is a completely different matter."

God placed his arms on me and looked into my eyes.

"Look, I know what you've been through, this is an issue caused by the bullying. That's why you're here, to heal yourself, alright?"

I nodded.

"You're important, Danburite. Do not settle for less. Now, I have a small assignment for you."

"What is it?" I queried, intrigued.

"Stop thinking that you're inferior. When you do something good, admit it. Is that fine with you?"

"Ehh, I'll try."

"That's good enough for me," God smiled as he released his grasp on me. "See you next time!"

With a snap of his fingers he disappeared.

I stood there in silence.

"Do something good and admit it…" I pondered.

"I can do that."

* * *

 _What a huge waste of time._

 _What am I doing out here?_

I kicked a small rock as I lazily trudged along the beach.

"Nobody to talk to, nobody to hang out with, all alone and doing nothing, this sucks…"

I stared at the ocean.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder how Ventrico is doing out there…"

 _Hopefully she's doing fine._

Nearing thunder rolling closer in the distance, I looked up and noticed dark clouds approaching.

"Ah, it's gonna rain, I'll take shelter. But where?"

Noticing the Cave of Emptiness ahead of me, I considered the option of entering it.

 _But will Cinnabar mind though?_

 _Eh, rather think about it later,_ I thought as I briskly walked towards the cave while rain began to fall.

"Hello, Cinnabar?" I asked as I looked into the cave. On a small platform, there Cinnabar was, lying down. _Is she sleeping?_

"What do you want?" was the annoyed reply I got.

"Sorry, I'll just be here for a while till the rain stops. I promise I won't disturb you."

I go no reply.

Sitting down on the opposite side of the wall, I looked around. The room was covered in mercury, more or less just like the one back in the school.

Hearing the flipping of pages due to wind, I lifted my head up. Above me was the notebook Phos was supposed to use for her encyclopedia. _Ah, Cinnabar had it all this while._

"You're not afraid."

"Afraid?"

"Afraid of my poison. You'd have to be chipped if you touch it, you know."

"I'm not afraid. Well, at least not as afraid as I once was. But that's a whole lifetime ago, it doesn't matter now."

"You were only born a few days ago."

 _Oh, drat._ "Well, uh… yeah! I said it wrong, I guess."

"No you didn't," Cinnabar retorted, sitting up and looking at me. "You're hiding something."

"Eh?"

"Out with it, Danburite. You're born at a location different from all of us, you have all sorts of knowledge right off from the start, and you act weird at times. What exactly _are_ you?"

Cinnabar had already gotten up and came closer to me, her eyes staring deep into my soul. _Damn, I came here for shelter, not for an interrogation._

"Huh? I'm a gem, just like you and everyone else! Why would you think I'm something else?"

"You're the one being weird, none of us are like that!"

"That still doesn't give you the right to think I'm different!"

"You are different! Why did you say that to me back then, then?"

"Say what?"

"The part about my poison giving immortality to living things!"

"That's what people thought then! As hundreds of years passed people began to realize that mercury was poisono…"

Suddenly noticing that I've shot off too much, I faltered and slammed my mouth shut with my hand.

That was an awkward silence as Cinnabar stared at me.

Cinnabar looked at me with intense interest.

"You're telling me everything, here and now."

* * *

"So, you're a human from another world sent here to live with us."

"Basically."

"And you've turned into a gem too."

"Yep. Please, keep it a secret for me."

"..."

Cinnabar looked away.

"I… take that as a yes?"

Silence.

"Eh, okay. Thanks, Cinn."

The red gem just folded her arms.

I stared outside, just like what she had decided to do. That's quite a downpour outside.

"Phos is lucky."

"Huh?"

"Phos is lucky to have you," Cinnabar replied, turning to look at me.

"More like the other way round…" I muttered, curling into a ball. "I've long forgotten the last time I had a friend, all of them had left me. Well," I admitted, "only one remained a friend even after she left…"

" _Come on, it's okay, I know you're not at fault," she comforted as I buried my face in her chest, sobbing._

" _He's the one being unreasonable, you bumped into him and he created a vendetta against you just because he couldn't get over it? And it's just our first year, what a sick piece of garbage. Tell ya what, I'll be your friend from now on, alright? Boy, look at all those cane marks! Your parents?"_

" _Nicole! Wait up, wait up!"_

 _I stopped and turned around, just as she caught up to me._

" _It's our streaming year and I failed 2 exams, damn! Surely not getting those pure subjects for sure! Hey, how about you?"_

" _Hmm, three."_

" _Ah, that's actually better than thought. Borderlines?"_

" _Yeah, but does it really matter? I'm still going to be beaten up no matter what…"_

" _I'm no different from you too, you know?" She sighed. "Well, maybe better, not trying to rub it into you. Come on, stop being this gloomy for once._

 _Seeing that I remained unchanged, she sighed again._

" _Tell you what, let's walk home together, shall we?"_

 _We walked together in silence towards the bus-stop._

" _It's been a year already, eh Nicole?"_

" _Huh?"_

" _It's been about a year since we first met. Nothing's changed for the better for you, only gotten worse. Hey, promise me something?"_

" _Sure, but what?"_

" _Walk away from them, those people just aren't worth your time. After all, even when I'm not around, I'll come back to you. I promise."_

" _Hmm, alright…"_

 _She smiled. "Now that's my Nicole! Come on, ice-cream?"_

 _I smiled, feeling happy for the first time in a day. Or week. "Sure!"_

" _Jane has been transferred to another school, she won't be with us anymore starting from this year," the teacher replied coldly._

 _I was shocked. "But miss, Jane told me that she'd been placed in our class a week ago! Are you sure there isn't a mistake?"_

" _Well Nicole, who are you to talk to me like that? Getting disrespectful after finding out that you actually love hitting someone?"_

" _What? No, that wasn't even me-"_

" _Silence! I'll send you to the principal's office now, you go now while I'll call him."_

" _She moved away, you see."_

 _I stared at the locked gate and front door of Jane's former apartment in disbelief, ignoring the "For Sale" sign placed over said gate._

 _The old lady next door sighed._

" _I know how you feel, kiddo. But we've all got to move on, yeah? Your friend thinks highly of you, you aware of that? She's always talking about how sad you are everyday, about how she wants to finally see you truly happy. Want to honor your friend even after she's left? Live happily, do your best. I know you can, you're just clouded now."_

" _I tried to be happy," I muttered, "I really did. But they all won't let me. After you left, they all decided to gang up more against me, beating me after school, framing me for trouble, talking trash about me in front of the teachers and making indirect jokes about me onstage during some presentation. But I kept on for a year, knowing that you'll come back. You liar," I felt tears well up in my eyes as I looked at her lifeless face through her coffin's glass, "you left me for good!"_

 _Thinking about all those times I rejected going over to her place simply because I was not allowed to by my parents, an immense guilt grabbed my heart._

" _I'm sorry! I'm sorry for not spending more time with you! I really didn't know this will happen! I'm so sorry!" I cried my heart out as I slumped over the coffin, the downpour outside strong as ever._

' _Young Girl Killed By Speeding Driver', the headlines of the day's newspaper repeated endlessly in my head as I sat alone, at the same spot where we first met._

" _Hey, trash. Want to be beaten up again? If not, get out of my seat!"_

" _Not now, Ken. I'm not in the mood for your charades today."_

" _Oh, getting snippy today, are we? Come on, let's do the usual today! On second thought," the bastard mused, "let's give you double for talking back to me!"_

"I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye…" I muttered, feeling the cracks on my face that Rutile patched up earlier today reappear.

No reply from Cinnabar.

"Sorry for being this personal, I don't think you wanted to hear that."

"It's going to be alright."

"Huh?"

"You're here now, right? Leave your past there and move forward, that's how you heal," Cinnabar said. "That's how you can honor your friend too. Besides, you still owe me a job that's more fun, right?"

"Yeah."

"Look after Phos, that one's really fragile."

"I will."

"Rain stopped," Cinnabar pointed out, pointing at the downpour that had de-escalated into a light drizzle, the sunset beginning to show. "You can go."

"Alright, thanks for the shelter," I replied as I got up and prepared to leave.

"One more thing," Cinnabar stopped me.

"Eh?"

"The name for my poison," Cinnabar asked. "What was it?"

"Mercury," I replied.

"I see."

Cinnabar looked away.

I just stood there.

"What?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Thanks again, Cinn," I thanked again as I stepped out of the cave and headed back to the school.


	17. Chapter 17

_Seventeen_

 _Ah, it's getting dark,_ I thought to myself as I approached the school, watching the sky.

 _Had I came home this late back then, I'd most likely get a beating. Enough of the old negative thoughts though; like Cinnabar said, I have to keep looking forward and forget the bad stuff._

Stepping into the shelter of the massive building and having the lights from the jellyfish reflect off me, I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion, being reminded of my cracks as I felt them.

 _Gotta get to Rutile._

* * *

"Doc," I barely called out, encountering the doctor in the middle of a hallway en route to her corner. _Hey, there's a gem sleeping on that bench. Isn't that posture a bit uncomfortable?_

Getting closer, I noticed that said gem, who was sleeping upright with her head slumped backwards, was a familiar peppermint-colored gem. A familiar peppermint-colored gem that I have not seen for a whole day.

"Hey, what's with Phos?"

"They're just tired, is all," was the reply from Rutile. "It's the first patrol, too. Why did you call me, by the way?"

I pointed at my face.

"Oh, again? What could you be so upset about?"

"I'll rather not talk about it…"

"Hey," Rutile prodded, showing concern, "what's the matter? Did anyone say any nasty things to you?"

"No, not at all!" I hastily replied, lest she gets the wrong idea. "Everyone's been great to me, there's no problem in that."

"That's good," the doctor commented, the look of worry on their face fading away. "I'm out of powder now, unfortunately, so you've got to wait. Is that okay for you?"

I nodded.

"That being said…" Rutile pondered, looking at Phos.

* * *

After carrying Phos back to her room (which was easy by the way, since she was pretty light), I'm now back in my room, in my sleeping robes, writing my diary.

" _... and Cinnabar has found about my past. Well, that's not a big deal, especially since she will keep it mum too, but I'm anxious about more people finding out. You can only keep a secret for so long, after all; don't need too many people knowing everything,"_ I wrote. " _Judging from Sensei's reactions, it's likely he'll go ballistic if he ever knows what I really was. All the more I should keep this discreet, ideally nobody else will know."_

" _That aside,"_ I continued, " _I wonder how Jane is doing up there, The only person I had as a friend, and a close one too. She wants to see me move on happily; will I really be happy after everything?"_

Closing the book and locking it up, I placed it on the window side-seats (or ledge, I'm not sure whether it qualifies though) and laid down, sighing.

"What's the deal?"

"It's nothing, Katsumi. It's just that I've been reminded of a friend."

"Hmm, I see. I'd prod deeper in usually, but I'm pretty tired too. By the way, no need to wish me a good night, let's both take it that we've already said that."

"Hm, alright. Lazy, are we?" I smirked.

"Hehe, not exactly. Just feels awkward, I've never wished anyone goodnight prior to you, it's usually a silent mutual exchange."

"Weird, that's the same as me."

"Told ya you're the closest thing I have for a non-doppelganger counterpart."

* * *

"... aaaaaaaaan. Daaaaaaaaaaaan."

Opening my eyes, I noticed Phos shaking me, standing next to my bed.

"Hm? Anything I can help with?"

"Yeah, Sensei's late orders for you. You're going out with me and Amethyst."

"Really?" I replied, quickly sitting up. "Guess I'll ready myself, give me a bit. Oh?"

Looking behind her, I noticed two purple gems standing behind.

"Ah, Amethysts. Morning."

"Morning," they greeted back simultaneously.

"I'm Amethyst eighty-four," the one with her left eye covered introduced.

"And I'm Amethyst thirty-three," the one with her right eye covered introduced."

"It's a pleasure meeting you," they said simultaneously, hitting their heads together.

I instinctively grimaced internally at the sound of the two gems hitting each other. _Hey, new trait?_

"Y-yeah, pleasure meeting you two too," I replied, showing a genuinely warm smile.

"No time left," 84 said abruptly, grabbing my clothes and approaching me.

"We're going to go somewhere far today," 33 followed up, grabbing my socks, gloves and shoes.

"Get out of those," 84 told me, passing to 33 my clothes and taking off my sleeping robes.

"On with these," 33 went on and slid my white inner shirt and pants on, put my tie around my collar and sliding my socks up my legs, putting my shoes in front of me.

"Here you go," 84 finished, passing me my black outer shirt and gloves.

"Ah, right…" I replied, getting out of my daze and tying my tie, wearing my overshirt, putting on my gloves and standing up, sliding into my shoes. "Hey, my sword."

"Right here," the both of them said, turning me around and hooking the two belt extensions meant to hold my sword onto my white belt.

"Let's go," the twins simultaneously declared, grabbing Phos and dragging her off.

"Hey, why me? Shouldn't it be Dan today?"

"We feel like it," was the nonchalant reply.

Giggling, I remembered something important, reaching out below my bed's mattress and grabbing the two butterfly knives and attaching the holders onto my belt.

After giving the orange butterfly resting above a goodbye look, I walked out, closing the door. Today's going to be a new day.

* * *

I plucked another black seed off the bush.

Rutile had gotten us to go pluck the seeds of the white powder flower while we're on patrol. I was expecting the seeds to look white, but no, they're the opposite of that in terms of color.

 _Right, my cracks aren't covered up yet,_ I recalled, touching my face.

I put the seed into the wooden bowl.

 _The last time I used a wooden bowl, it carried the body parts of my friend. Hmm, that sounds pretty wrong if we were human._

 _Ah, to hell with that, this is a new beginning of a new life._

Hearing Phos cry out in shock, I looked over to my side.

 _Oh, she's just startled by a… hey, what is that? Evolved butterfly?_

* * *

 _Screw me upside down, patrol is boring as hell,_ I thought as Rutile applied the newly-made powder over my cracks, Phos sleeping on the bench beside me.

"You're an unusual one," the doctor commented.

"Huh?"

"None of us were born like you were. We still had to be cut by Sensei a bit before we come close to looking like this, we need to have new eyes made; you're the only one who came out 'ready' right from the start."

"Eh?"

"Yeah, it's almost unnatural. But I'll not pursue it, anything is possible; perhaps this is a rare occurrence."

 _Yep, rare it is. Not everyone gets a second chance in life in another universe._

"Alright, you're done. Haul Phos back to their room, okay?"

* * *

"Good. Just sit back and relax like that," one of the Amethyst sisters commented, referring to Phos, who unbeknownst to them was lying down. Or both of them, one at a time. I can't tell, honestly.

It's another new day. Well, the near-ending of another day; it's evening. It's just a boring wait for Lunarians to pop out though, and naturally Phos is tired.

A white butterfly landed on the forehead of the peppermint gem.

"Right?" was the reply from Phos. "Here I am on my third day and already a pro."

"Yeah, yeah," the two sisters answered together.

"Alright, they haven't figured out I'm just too tired to move," Phos mumbled to me. I was sitting to her left, facing in the direction of the Amethyst twins.

I heard a little sigh from those two.

"Hey, I think they just heard you," I replied softly.

The butterfly took off.

"I guess a little change wasn't enough to make this go smooth, huh…" the peppermint gem mumbled.

"Nothing is ever truly smooth in life, Phos." was my reply.

The two Amethyst gems walked over.

"Want to try some…" 84 began.

"... sword practice?" 33 finished.

"Sure," Phos replied. "What I want to do is practice whipping out the sword and tossing back the sheath. It's so cool, right?"

"Oh?" the sisters noticed, turning back.

"Hm?" I looked up.

"Oh, yeah! That!" Phos commented as she sat up, the Amethyst sisters having unsheathed their swords and ran ahead.

Yep, that's a sunspot forming.

"It would appear that you would have to learn on the fly," the two of them said simultaneously, taking their positions.

"Phos, Dan, watch and learn."

* * *

The elegance, the grace, the coordination of those two are phenomenal.

Phos and I watched (me in awe, I'm not sure if Phos was amazed or terrified) as the twins avoided the arrows and spears, launched up onto the cloud, slaughtered their way through to the large Lunarian and sliced it.

"Woah, that was fast…" I muttered.

Naturally, that wasn't the end.

The cloud didn't disperse even though half of the large Lunarian was gone.

"Phos!" the sisters called out as they ran towards the edge of the cloud, facing us.

"H-huh?"

Yep, poor Phos is terrified.

"This might be one of those rare types," 84 explained.

"There might be something inside," 33 added on just as some white flower slithered behind them, revealing two jaws with blue spikes.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Behind you!"

Too late.

Phos watched in terror as the two jaws clamped onto the twins, attempting to break them. One of them had already lost a hand, which had landed on the ground.

"Phos." 84 called out.

"Run." 33 finished, just as the two jaws smashed them into bits.

"Why… No… Sensei..." I heard Phos mutter.

"NO!" a scream came from the cloud.

Strangely enough, I felt calm.

"Guess it's time for me to go. Phos, stay back," I said, unsheathing my sword.

 _Wait a minute, what am I doing? I've never fought before!_

 _Oh well, it's do or die._

"Alright. Let's dance."


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello, sorry for the delay, I've been pretty busy as of late.**

 _Eighteen_

I'll be honest here; I have no idea what I'm doing as I charged towards the cloud, somehow avoiding the arrows and spears being thrown towards me.

Leaping up onto the cloud, I found myself not swinging my sword wildly at any Lunarian I see; instead, I was weaving in between the few remaining ones, tricking them to fire upon themselves, knocking them out.

Reaching the large Lunarian, I ran towards the two jaws.

 _Wait, what? I can't stop!_

The jaws noticed me and came after me.

I felt myself change direction at the last moment, narrowly missing the sharp blue spikes.

At the last second, I charged towards the stems connecting the jaws just as they lunged forward again.

Hearing two snaps, I looked back.

I had just duped the jaws into severing themselves.

 _Woah, how did I do that?_

Noticing darkness, I realized I was being enveloped by a black veil-like dome, they must be trying to trap me.

I figured the only way to get out safely is to completely destroy the large Lunarian.

"Let's go!" I felt myself shout, "Lunarian SCUM!"

I charged towards the large one...

… and was promptly grabbed by someone.

"Hold on!" the voice of a familiar black diamond-class gem shouted.

"Huh, Bort?"

Bort leapt up, bringing me out of the closing black dome.

A sudden explosion and accompanying massive veil of smoke engulfed the Lunarian cloud. _No doubt that's something only of Sensei's caliber._

Bort landed on the ground, next to Sensei. Yellow Diamond was standing with Phos, the latter still sitting on the ground. Turning around, I noticed the presence of Dia and Zicon, both of them picking up the parts of the two Amethyst sisters.

Bort paced angrily towards Phos.

"You…"

They pointed the tip of their sword at the peppermint gem.

"Explain yourself!"

"Bort!" I rushed forward, pushing the sword away from Phos. "What are you doing?"

"This runt here did absolutely nothing!" was the reply shouted for me as Bort turned her attention towards me.

"It's Phos' first time facing the Lunarians in combat, cut them some slack!"

"What slack?! This runt wants to go to combat, yet they've done nothing when it was time for action!"

"Haven't you been scared once?! Not even your first encounter with the Lunarians?!" I snapped back, a second too late before I noticed I was getting too agitated.

My anger was replaced with slight fear, anticipating an attack from Bort.

Bort, though, had went silent.

The black gem looked at me in surprise.

For a few moments, I noticed genuine softness in her eyes.

That went off as soon as it appeared, and Bort's expression went back to usual.

She strode off, back towards the school.

Looking at her moving off, I turned around. Everyone was looking at me with shocked expressions. Well, except Sensei, he's as deadpan as usual.

"D-did I say something wrong?"

Silence.

"E-ehh? Guys?"

I'm slightly panicking now.

Yellow Diamond suddenly broke into a fit of laughter, easing the tension around for all of us.

"I-it's nothing," the eldest gem around said before fully stopping her laughter. "You didn't say anything wrong, don't worry."

"But… Bort…"

"It's all fine. Like all of us, they started off rough too," Yellow reassured, smiling. "It's been this way, nothing will change that."

"Ah…"

Feeling less tense, I offered my hand to Phos. Accepting it, Phos got up with help from me.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," was the reply from the peppermint gem. "I was so scared…"

"It's nothing to worry about," I reassured.

* * *

"Apply the glue there, not too much."

"Like this, doc?" I asked as I used the wooden stick and applied the glue.

"Not bad. A bit too much, though, but it's nothing bad. We don't want the glue to come out," Rutile explained.

"No prob. So I'll reattach, uh, 33's right leg now?"

"Yeah, that'll be it for them. It's fortunate they didn't splinter into too many smaller pieces, or this would take much longer."

At the same time I reattached 33's leg, Rutile placed back 84's head.

The two sister gems came round at the same time and sat up simultaneously. Stepping aside, Red Beryl began to tie up 33's hair.

Both Amethyst gems looked at Phos in front, kowtowing to both of them.

I didn't approve of her doing that, but Phos insisted. I respected her wishes.

I looked at the peppermint gem, slightly worried.

"I was so scared…" Phos began. "I couldn't even move."

"Sorry."

That apology came from the two sisters.

Surprised, Phos looked up.

"We got careless," 33 began.

"We were too preoccupied trying to set an example for you," 84 continued, Red Beryl now moving over to that gem and fixing their hair.

"We must have really frightened you," 33 followed up.

A greed, long-haired gem slid out hurriedly behind Phos. "Wait!"

"Alexandrite?" Both sisters simultaneously asked.

Alexandrite stepped forward, a notebook in her left hand.

"I heard you saw some new type of Lunarian!"

"Mmh, Alex," both sisters replied together.

"Uhh…" Alex muttered, slightly creeped out.

"The infirmary is no place to shout, Alex," Rutile reminded.

"Look at you, all worked up over Lunarians again, Alex," Red Beryl continued, done with 84's hair.

"It's Lexi!" Alex pouted, pointing a finger forward and shifting it towards everyone in the room. "How many times do I have to tell you?!"

"Alex," I puzzled, "who's Lexi?"

The green Lunarian-crazy gem facepalmed.

"Never mind… Anyway, I heard its blades were made from Sapphire!" Alex (or Lexi for that matter) shouted, walking over to 84. "Tell me everything you can!"

"Um…" 84 tried to recall.

"C'mon! Think!"

"It all happened so fast, and we were so close that we-"

"Ugh, c'mon! Oh! Dan!"

"E-eeeh?"

"Tell me everything you can! You also fought, yes?"

"Well, yeah…"

"C'mon, tell me!"

"Uh… they're like, say, two sets of two plank-like things," I tried to explain, using my hands to show Alex, "then in between each set there are spikes made from, uh, that gem, Sapphire?"

"Good!" Alex answered, fervently scribbling down on her notebook. "Anything more?"

"Well, they have these wire-like things connecting to that big Lunarian, they can turn well, they're flexible, they…"

Looking up, I noticed that Alex has stopped and is staring at me.

In fact, everyone is staring at me. Including Phos, who has stood up.

"Eheh, what did I say?"

"Dan," Rutile asked, "what is a wire?"

 _Oh, drat. How do I cover up this one?_

"Eheh, wire? D-did I say that? What is it anyway?"

Rutile just looked at me suspiciously.

"A-anyway," I quickly moved on, "it's like, some poles that are flexible. That's all! Ehehe…"

"I see…" Alex replied, finishing up. "Anything else?"

"Oh hey, what about Phos?" 33 suggested.

"Phos?" Red Beryl quizzed.

"Phos should have seen the whole thing-" 84 explained before noticing something missing.

Not something, _someone._

"Huh?" 33 noticed too.

"Well, I gotta go," I quickly said, running off.

* * *

I ran across the grasslands, the overcast night sky above me.

I have a hunch about where Phos has gone to.

Still, this atmosphere…

It feels…

… familiar.

 _I got off the bus and ran as quickly as I can, the overcast sky above me._

" _What do you mean Jane has passed on? Don't joke with me! Where is she?!"_

 _I paid no attention to the drizzle that has started._

 _I paid no attention to the rain that had escalated into a downpour._

 _All I want to do is to see for myself._

 _Everything doesn't matter._

 _I wanted to know that I was right. That the old lady was just kidding._

 _I need to see for myself._

 _But…_

… _the crowd at the void deck that I could see from here…_

 _Please, Jane._

 _Please don't leave me._

 _Oh, that…_ I thought as I ran.

But nothing was falling from the sky.

* * *

Yep, I was right.

There Phos was, crouching down in the grass, watching Cinnabar down at the beach.

I got down and crawled towards the peppermint gem.

"Hey," I began, making Phos jump a little. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

"..."

The both of us watched Cinnabar do her rounds.

"It's not your fault, you know," I began.

"Huh?"

"Everyone freezes in their first time facing danger, this isn't something out of the ordinary."

The peppermint gem sighed. "I know, but I could have done something. Like you, you actually went to attack the Lunarians while I just sat there."

A few moments of silence.

"You're not even a year old and you're amazing. I really wish that I could be like you. Even if it's just a bit…"

"You really don't want to be me." I looked down.

"Huh?"

"I've been bullied for the past three years before I came over. It's not just snide comments, it's being beaten up, having everyone hate me and being framed and nobody believing me. It's being punished for the smallest actions, being picked on any and all flaws that I have, being punished in front of everyone without having anyone defending me. Trust me, you _don't_ want to be me."

"Dan…"

I felt Phos hug me.

"Is that why you're so quiet around? Are you afraid that someday everybody here will start to hate you too?"

"A bit…"

Phos giggled and put her hands on my shoulders.

"Silly, nobody here hates each other down here. We will all accept you, don't worry about a thing. If you have any problems, ask for help. Even me, I promise! Oh…"

Phos looked down.

"Here I am again, making promises I can't keep…"

"No," I replied, "have faith in yourself. You are great the way you are, you're already doing your best to keep your promise to Cinnabar, that's good! Just keep going, eventually we'll find a fun job for Cinn. Both of us."

Phos stared at me in surprise, taking in whatever I've said.

The peppermint gem then burst into a smile.

"Thank you, Dan!" she exclaimed while pouncing onto me.

"Woah!"

As we rolled on the ground laughing, a single white drop of something settled down on us.

Then more came.

"Eh?"

Getting off me, Phos looked up as I sat up.

"Snow…"

"Yes, Dan. Snow."

"I've never seen real snow before," I commented, reaching my hand out to let a single snowflake land on it.

It felt cold.

"Winter is here," Phos muttered. "Hibernating will be starting soon."

"Yeah, the insects and others can't find food out here in the snow."

"No, Dan. Us."

"Eh?"

* * *

It's been pretty busy so far.

As the snow built up, all of us prepared for hibernation. While Red Beryl prepared to give everyone their winter clothes (which are the pyjamas we'd be using), everyone else was busy covering a section of the hall with white cloth. That's where we're going to be sleeping in.

So, what am I doing now? I'm just resting and watching the others while sitting beside Phos, who covered herself under a single blanket.

I'm interested in watching Jade giving Goshe instructions.

"Pull it to the right!"

"Like this?"

"More to the left."

"Like this then?"

"Further right!"

"O-okay, now?"

"A little higher. Wait, no, lower!"

"Ehh?!"

"Hup… woah!" Euclase went as she tripped and landed both the stack of pillows she was carrying and herself onto Jade.

"Woah!"

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay."

As the bustle went on, I sat back and relaxed myself.

"I've never hibernated before."

"I don't feel like hibernating this year," was the reply from Phos.

"Eh? Why?"

"I don't feel tired, actually."

I sighed. "Same here, probably."

"Phos?" Rutile called out from behind, carrying pillows.

"Yup?"

"I thought as much. I asked Cinnabar to hibernate here with us, but it was no use," the doctor said. "Ah, Dan. I've got enough powder for your whole body now, come with me later, alright?"

I nodded.

"We could at least share this bedding, though, if you don't mind," Rutile asked Phos as they crouched down.

"Huh?!" Phos began to rush towards the doctor as the latter quickly stood up. "Of all things! Anything but that!"

"Ah! Creepy!" Rutile muttered as the still-under-the-blanket peppermint gem chased her. "FIne, I'll go myself!"

Euclase grabbed the blanket off Phos, which probably stopped the chase.

"You know…" Phos diverted, "do I really need to hibernate?"

"What?" The doctor seemed surprised.

"It's just," Phos explained while she got up and I followed suit, "I'm not even the slightest bit tired this year."

"You, the first to sleep and the last to get up every year? Do you need a checkup?"

"Maybe you might've messed up with my leg surgery, you quack."

Rutile immediately raised a pair of scissors menacingly.

"It's a joke!" Phos cried out anxiously, her two hands in front of her.

"The light quality here is poor in the winter," the doctor said, putting away the scissors. "Just staying awake would be exhausting. Through the whole of winter, there are only around ten sunny days on average."

"When the sun _does_ come out," Euc added on, "it almost guarantees the Lunarians will show up. But that makes them easy to predict, so we just leave all of winter up to Sensei and Antarcticite."

 _Who's Antarcticite? What kind of gem even is antarcticite?_ I pondered.

"I'm just about as hard, so how come I don't get to do that?" Phos asked. "Not fair."

"Antarcticite has a more unique makeup than you do," Rutile explained. "Though normally in a completely liquefied state, Antarcticite's body crystallizes when the temperature drops. So, colder temperatures just make that body… um... stronger, simply put."

"Interesting…" I muttered.

"Right, before time runs out. Dan, come with me. Going to put on the powder now."

* * *

"Uuuuuu…" I blushed as Rutile applied the powder on my crotch. Over the area where it used to be my, uh, you know.

"Sensitive too, are you?"

"Y-yeah..."

"It's normal. Sensei always said this is the remnants of an ancestral species to us."

I decided to prod further. "What ancestral species?"

"Well, Sensei never said anything, we didn't ask him either."

The powder brush went over _that_ area again, prompting me to yelp and shut my legs as a reflex.

"Spread out, I'm not done yet."

"S-sorry," I replied, doing what the doctor told me to do.

"Oh, that's right," Rutile recalled as they finished up, going on to my torso and away from my crotch, making me relax. "Phos mentioned something about 'humans', that could be it."

"Maybe."

"They would make an interesting topic to discuss, if the others will like to. After winter first, though."

* * *

Yeah, now it's about time to sleep.

All the preparations are done, and all of us are wearing the white pyjamas Red Beryl painstakingly designed, made and put on for us. Each of us actually have different designs, which shows the immense effort and detail the resident tailor put in for everyone. I'm not sure where the red gem got their inspiration for mine in particular, but it's more or less a completely-white variant of Katsumi's kimono.

Speaking of which, while all of us were busy with the preparations, Katsumi took the time to "borrow" some wood from Sphene's corner and board up my room's windows. She told me it's to prevent the room from being too cold for her while I was hibernating with the others.

" _It's just like an igloo, you know. Don't worry, I'll keep the room clean, when you come back you can bet it'll be cleaner than you left it!"_

 _She shot me a smile and a thumbs-up._

Anyway, back to now. I'll be sleeping next to Phos, the peppermint gem was more than happy to have me beside them.

"Now then, Sensei…" Jade began.

"Goodnight," all of us finished.

"Goodnight."

After we all lay down, the outside lights from the jellyfish faded away.

"Sweet dreams," was the final thing Sensei said before leaving.

 _This will be a unique experience,_ I thought as I closed my eyes.

Nope. Not tired at all.

I felt someone poke my left arm.

"Psst, Dan."

Opening my eyes, I looked at Phos, now sitting up just beside me.

"Huh?"

"Ehh, are you seriously tired? I was hoping you'd be up and running too…" Phos muttered while pouting.

"Nope, not tired," was my reply.

The peppermint gem's face immediately brightened. "Great! Shh, get up quietly, follow me!"

* * *

"Shh, don't let Antarc or Sensei spot us," Phos whispered as we tiptoed across the hall. We've changed out to our regular uniform and left our pyjamas on a bench.

"Got it."

Getting closer, I can see two figures ahead. One's certainly Sensei.

The other, though…

Phos quietly pulled me behind one of the pillars.

"Good morning," and unfamiliar voice went.

"Good morning. Antarcticite," was the reply from Sensei as he turned around in the distance.

Motioning to me, we quietly walked on the other side of the pillars while Sensei and the other gem conversed with each other.

"How is your condition?" Sensei began.

"Flawless as always, of course."

"Working alone every year must be lonesome. My apologies."

"N-not at all."

Phos and I reached the closest possible pillar between the two without them seeing us before peeking out.

"It's not like I'm lonely or anything, but…"

 _So this is Antarcticite…_

Short white hair, completely white uniform, black high heels that fully cover her feet. No socks, a large sword that resembles a long, oversized machete still in its sheath and attached to their left side via belt. Short black gloves.

"Our yearly tradition…" Antarcticite continued, "may I?"

Sensei opened his arms, and Antarcticite immediately went over to hug him. In response, Sensei placed his hand on the ice gem's head.

I just had to slip while moving a bit more outwards behind Phos.

Noticing me about to fall, the peppermint gem grabbed onto my arm, but slipped as well.

"Woah!"

The both of us hit the floor with a thud, me facing upwards while Phos had her face downwards.

A loud scream echoed throughout the whole school.

"Wh-Wh… Why are yous still awake, Phosphophyllite?!" was the first thing Antarcticite shouted in embarrassment as both Phos and I got up. "And who," she turned her attention towards me, "is this?!"

"Ah, you see…" Phos explained, "we just couldn't fall asleep, so…"

Antarc just continued staring at her.

"Would it be okay if we… just stay awake?" Phos asked Sensei. "Heheh…"

"Hmm." Sensei pondered for a while.

"Very well. This year you will work as a trio."

"Sweet!" was Phos' reaction.

"Sensei!" was Antarc's as she looked at Sensei in disagreement.

"Pardon my saying so, but I must object!" she went on as Phos began swaying in joy. "Not with this useless dolt!"

Antarc pointed at Phos.

"So what was this whole 'tradition' you were on-" Phos tried to ask before the ice gem turned around and put both hands on the peppermint gem's shoulders and stared into her eyes.

"... about?"

Silence.

"Never mind."

"So," Antarc released her grip on Phos and looked at me, "who is this?"

"Uh…"

"This is Danburite," Sensei introduced me to the ice gem. "They were born just earlier this year, before winter came."

"I see. Hello, my name is Antarcticite. Nice to meet you."

"N-nice to m-meet you too…" I nervously stammered.

"Hmm. What's your hardness?"

"S-seven and a half."

"Impressive."

"But I-I'm brittle! Not good for combat!" I tried to explain, in case Antarc got the wrong idea.

"You say that, but you slaughtered those Lunarians not long ago…" Phos chimed in.

"That's a… a fluke! I'll probably not be able to do it again!"

Phos chuckled. "Don't worry Antarc, my junior here is just really timid and unconfident! In reality they're really capable, but it's up to me to help them get better!"

"With _you_ as a senior, I wonder how things will turn out…" Antarc sweatdropped.

"Hey, not nice! I'm no longer the youngest around here, so I'll need to guide on the current youngest one! Right, Dan?"

"R-right…"


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey, author again, sorry for the delay, I'll try to be quicker.**

 _Nineteen_

"Now tell me. You've always been the one who sleeps the longest every year, so what's with you now? Always so fickle and aimless. You're half a level harder than I am; don't you feel ashamed? Other than getting this newbie to tag along with you, I'm sure this was just another idle year for you, right? Is it a fear of that fact that's keeping you awake?"

"Well actually, see..."

Phos suddenly launched forward, throwing back some snow that had ended up in the corridor and surprising both Antarc and me. Antarc was shocked at the speed; I on the other hand was just startled by the sudden movement.

"So those weird legs of yours…" Antarc guessed while Phos stopped. "Are they agate? Did you head out to battle?"

"I did, yeah…" was the reply as Phos walked back towards us, "but right at the most crucial part, I got so scared I couldn't even put them to use."

"Did you get into trouble?"

"No- woah!"

Phos slipped on some snow. Instinctively I rushed forward and tried to grab onto the peppermint gem, butI was too slow.

At least she didn't crack or break.

"You're spoiled!" was the harsh remark from Antarc as they walked up. "This is why working in groups is so-" she pointed her sword (still sheathed of course) on Phos.

"I didn't get into any trouble…" Phos muttered while grabbing onto the ice gem's sword, her statement surprising Antarc. "That's what's so frustrating that I can't sleep. Plus, I hear it's exhausting just trying to stay awake in the winter."

Phos got up to her knees and turned back. "So I thought maybe I could try testing myself through it."

Silence. Antarc's face was filled with, I don't know, pity?

I didn't feel myself raising an eyebrow at the scene.

"Try not to look so confused," Antarc commented as they shifted the sword towards me.

"Ehh?"

"What's your reason for staying up? Did Phos drag you along?"

"No, it's not that! I just can't sleep, is all…"

"Why do you follow Phos around anyway?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you pick this one as a partner instead of the others?"

I was confused with the ice gem's question. "That's obvious. I like Phos."

Antarc looked surprised. Phos, similarly surprised too, turned around and looked at me.

SIlence.

"Ehhh, what? Did I say anything wrong? I can't be the only one around who likes them, their cheerful and carefree attitude, their other perks and basically everything else about them, right?"

Awkward silence.

Phos broke into a wide smile and laughed.

"You sweet, sweet junior!"

"Eeeeeeehh?"

The peppermint gem had pounced on me and knocked me down, before hugging me tightly.

"You're the first one to say that you like me! Thanks!"

"Ehehe… no problem. Though…"

"Huh?" Phos got away and looked at me.

"Don't everyone like you generally? Everyone else says that you're a slacker, but that time you were in Ventrico's shell, everyone got up and yanked you out. I'm sure Antarc feels the same way too," I looked at the ice gem, "right?"

Antarc just looked away. _Oh, she has a black tie. Didn't notice that beforehand._

"Yep, Phos," I commented while smiling. "That's a yes."

All Phos did was go back in for an even tighter hug.

"Ehh, Phos, you okay?"

"Of course! I've never been better!"

"Very well," Antarc said.

"Huh?" Phos and I looked at her.

"Then I'll let you two take on one of my tasks."

"Really?" Phos excitedly got up.

"It won't be easy."

"I don't wanna…" Phos muttered as she helped me up.

"But I will! Hmph!"

* * *

"I'm back!" I called, opening the newly-installed wooden door.

"Woah!"

Katsumi rolled off my bed and hit the floor with a thud.

"What? Weren't you supposed to be hibernating?"

"I decided to skip the sleeping, gonna help Antarc out with Phos."

"Ah, well, can't argue with that. Hey, how's the room?"

I looked around. "Not bad, you also brought in four bowls of jellyfish."

Katsumi grinned as she got up. "Yep! It's going to be _way_ too dark with all the windows boarded up, so I brought in some light! Hey, what do you need now?"

"RIght, I'm here to put away these clothes," I explained, putting the pyjamas onto the window stille. "Hey, how did you board up the windows without overlapping the window stille?"

"It wasn't that hard, but neither was it easy. I had to find the exact plank length in order to cover the windows, but once that's done, I placed one at the bottom while I apply glue to two sides of those small wooden blocks at the sides there. That's how the planks are held in place, then I stacked the others up, with those blocks being glued together with each other too."

"I wonder if it'll that'll actually hold…"

"Only one way to find out! Door was easy to install though, too bad doorknobs aren't a thing here. That's why there's a circular hole there!"

"Impressive, but Sphene isn't going to be happy though…"

"Ehehe, just put them back before she notices. By the way," Katsumi asked, "what else do you need?"

"Right, I'll need my sword, hide my knives under the bed for now."

"Ah, gotcha!"

Katsumi grabbed my balisong knives and shoved them under the mattress while I grabbed my sword.

"Hey, Dan, don't you feel cold outside?"

"Good question," I stopped and noticed, "not at all. Perks of being a gem?"

"Perks of being a gem. Meanwhile, me the poor soul is almost freezing here. Thankfully this room is warm, guess I'll hole myself up here while you're busy?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, do whatever you want, just don't mess things up."

* * *

I trudged through the thick snow alongside Phos, with Antarc ahead of us.

"Hey, Antarc," I called out. "Slow down!"

Looking back at our trails, while Antarc and me had left relatively straight trails, Phos had snaked all the way.

"Hey," I asked Phos, "you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… the light.. It's so faint…"

Phos stopped.

"This… could be… bad…" she managed to utter before falling face-down.

"Woah! Phos!"

I carried her up.

"This won't do, I'll hold you all the way there. Man, this snow is thick…"

"So faint…" Phos uttered.

Antarc had stopped and looked back.

"We're only halfway there," the ice gem commented before turning back and resuming her path.

"Hey, Antarc," I asked, "are we rushing for something?"

"Sort of. When the light does come out, so do the Lunarians."

"Ugh…" _Man, this snow is too thick to be comfortable for me to walk across._

"Walk until you can't, and then walk some more," Antarc told me.

"Don't give up?"

Antarc stopped.

"Yes, don't give up. And put Phos down, you're spoiling them!"

"But…"

"It's all right…" Phos muttered. "Put me down."

Reluctantly, I put Phos down, who immediately fell forwards.

But she began to crawl.

I sighed. _Guess that's fine._

* * *

"We're here."

Crawling one last step out of the thick layer of snow, Phos and I finally stopped, panting.

"Antarc," I muttered, "how are you not tired? Even I'm out of breath, how are you still up and running?"

"I simply try not to think about it."

"Easier said than done," I answered.

"What's wrong, seven-half? Can't beat a gem with the strength of 2?"

Antarc smiled cheekily, the first time I've seen her actually trying to be playful.

"Ehehe, working on it…" I replied.

"Woah…" Phos muttered beside me.

"Huh?"

"That, Dan…"

The peppermint gem pointed forward. Turning my head to see what she was looking at, my jaw dropped too.

This was the sea, we've gone nowhere new. But hell, this looks nothing like I've seen before.

The sea had frozen over, covered by large pieces of ice packed together. It almost looks like it's stable, hard land.

Not far from actual land, a massive towering shape loomed ahead. The bottom section essentially looks like like the bottom half of a spinning top resting on its side, like how a spinning top would also rest when not in motion. On top of the structure were many straight "pillars" of ice heading upwards. At the center of the structure however was the biggest "pillar", now resembling an obelisk, about 4 times taller and wider than the smaller ones, with a ball mounted on its tip. From the ball, long, sharp spikes of ice protruded out. From the corner of my eye, I can make out another similar structure, just much further away from land.

 _Weird, where have I seen this shape before?_

"L… L…" Phos stammered in fear.

"Hey, what's the matter."

The peppermint gem pointed a shaking hand at the structure.

"L.. Lunarian..."

The image of the Lunarian cloud clicked in my mind. _How have I not noticed it?_

"Holy hell!" I shouted while jumping up, preparing to draw my sword.

"No," "Antarc reassured, "it's just an ice floe."

"A floe?" Phos asked, getting up slowly.

"When the sea freezes over, any segments with microorganisms from the sea floor wind up like that."

"B...but that shape…" I stammered.

"It's nothing, they just resemble Lunarians. Nothing more."

Dropping my guard, Phos and I stared, still afraid.

"But, Sensei once called them 'sinners'," Antarc went on, "and I've never quite been able to forget it."

"Why 'sinners'?" I asked. "Is there anything we should be worried about-"

I was interrupted by a loud rumbling coming from the floe, resulting in the ground shaking.

"Get ready," Antarc ordered.

"Huh?" both Phos and I went.

The floe swiftly sank into the sea, still rumbling.

"Just listen to that…" Phos shook.

"It hasn't started yet," the ice gem informed.

"Wait," I uttered, "exactly _what_ hasn't started yet?"

The rumbling and shaking stopped.

 _Calm before the storm?_

The ground began to shake much more violently as an equally louder rumbling began. This was swiftly accompanied by a shrieking resembling that of a… a terrified woman.

If I wasn't unsettled by the earlier rumbling and shaking, the shrieking just shoved me completely off the edge.

In a moment of panic, I unsheathed my sword, holding it out in a defensive position.

"Wh-what the hell was that?!"

"Dan! Relax!" Antarcticite shouted over the noise as a much larger mountain of ice began to surface. The shrieking did stop; but what good does it do for my nerves when it's replaced by even more shrieking?

"I thought we were collecting things or something!" I shouted over the racket. "You didn't tell me we're fighting monsters, the undead or whatever you call them!"

Antarc stared at me for a moment.

"What?! I'm genuinely scared now!"

"It's just noise! Calm down!" Antarc managed to convey over the screams of death itself.

"It-it's just noise?"

"Yes!"

A massive mountain of ice now stood in front of us. The ground's still shaking, the screams of pain are still at it.

Looking beside me, Phos had fallen to her knees in fear.

"The ghastly roars these floes unleash as they slide past each other disturb out slumbering companions," the ice gem explained as they finally unsheathed their sword.

 _Huh, rough cutting edge,_ I observed as Phos and I stared in awe.

"So I crush them," Antarc finished before leaping forwards.

Landing on the floe, Antarc ran down to the base of the "mountain", struck her sword into the ice and cracked it, sending the pieces plummeting down into the sea.

Floating on one of the pieces, Antarc looked at us, who were staring in awe.

"Now you try."

"You're insane!" Phos shouted.

"What about you, Dan?"

"Huh? Sure thing!" I replied, unsheathing my sword again. "Which one?"

Antarc pointed to a small floe just beside her, and I proceeded to leap to it.

Landing on the floe, I ran to its base and swung my sword down.

It got stuck in the ice.

"Uh… Antarc…" I called out, trying to yank my weapon out.

"Ah, this. You want to break this, not just slice open a small hole," Antarc taught while pulling my sword out and passing it back to me. "Try stabbing straight downwards, use force."

Nodding my head, I did what the ice gem told me to.

The resulting breaking of the floe into pieces and falling into the sea was awesome.

Me ending up on one of the cracks that also moved towards me and consequently falling into the sea? Not really.

"You'll get the hang of it, just watch the angle you're at when the sword goes in," Antarc reassured as she pulled me out of the water. "Phos, you try too."

"You two are insane!" was the comment shouted at the two of us by the peppermint gem.

* * *

"Uhh..." Phos began while Antarc climbed the ladder that Rutile usually used in order to get something from the aforementioned doctor's shelf, "I hate to say this about you shared this wonderful work of yours with me, but…"

"What is it?"

"I don't think I'm really up for all of that yet…" the peppermint gem finished, while lying on her side and putting her face into a bowl illuminated by a jellyfish. I was sitting on the opposite side of that bowl.

"I've only got these legs going for me. Just these legs."

"My body is not yet at its peak in temperatures as high as these," Antarc replied, reading a notebook. "But if you fall into the sea, you'll be ground to dust by those ice floes. It takes getting used to."

"You sure? You're not just trying to get me out of there in the face of danger so you can get more time alone with Sensei?"

"Want me to break you?" the ice gem asked as they climbed down one level to check more things out.

Phos sulked silently as snow fell from the dark sky.

"We low hardness gems have nothing if not for our courage," Antarc continued.

"There are things I just can't do."

"Because you never try."

"I do the things I can as best as I can."

"And so you never accomplish anything new."

"But, Antarc," I chimed in, "isn't setting a strong foundation important?"

"It's not a foundation if you never go any higher from there, Dan. At least Phos has something new to work on with you around, teaching a new gem new things. Do it well, Phos."

"I will…" Phos replied.

* * *

"Get set," Antarc counted down.

Phos took her position.

"Go!"

The peppermint gem sprinted forward, leaping off a massive floe.

The sky brightened again, and this time Antarc wanted Phos to actually start doing something, and thus borrowed Phos her high heels for a change ( _wow, how can the both of them actually run with that?_ ) and simply told them to follow what the ice gem did yesterday.

Phos landed on a smaller floe (on her left heel too) and proceeded to run down.

"Good," was the comment from Antarc as both her and I watched from another nearby floe.

The peppermint gem stopped, faced back, and like what I did the day before, stabbed her sword down into the ice.

Small crack in the ice. Massive crack on her face.

Antarc closed her eyes. "Almost had it."

* * *

Back at Rutile's corner, Antarc patched the peppermint gem up.

"I'm beat," said peppermint gem declared as the ice gem inspected the former's right arm.

"We still have our work day ahead of us," replied Antarc.

"We don't get a break after busting those things?"

"How can we take time off with all this snowfall?"

"Aaah…" Phos tiredly uttered as Antarc began to powder the cracks on the former's face.

* * *

"We have many tasks to carry out besides breaking ice floes," Antarc explained, shovelling snow out of the corridors near the outside. And also onto Phos.

Even when I tried to pull her away, the peppermint gem still prefers to stand within the landing range of the snow Antarc was busy shovelling away.

"Here," the ice gem instructed in another corridor after we moved on, but still unknowingly shovelling snow onto Phos.

"And here, too!"

"Hey, Phos," I asked while Antarc continued with her work outside the school, "are you okay?"

That peppermint gem is almost covered in an entire mold of snow, with only her head poking out but repeatedly hit by the snow from Antarc.

"I'm okay."

"And lastly, here!" Antarc shouted over to us on the peak of the once-green hill, before thrusting the shovel into the snow.

Cracks began to spread throughout the snow.

Soon enough, one portion of the snow began to slide down.

It was both me and Phos' luck to be standing on that one portion.

I hurriedly leapt off onto the other side and made it.

"Wo-ooah! Aaaaah!" was the shouts of the gem behind me as she reacted too late.

"Phos!" I shouted as the gem slid down, tumbling a few times before being buried underneath the snow.

* * *

"Senpai really isn't good at working in a team, huh," Phos commented out loud as both Antarc and I were almost done with piecing the peppermint gem back together.

"I said I'm sorry!" the ice gem replied while still holding onto Phos' left hand, annoyed at the comment. "Don't get snide on me! Now listen up you two, the most dangerous place on our patrol of the school is the room where everyone is hibernating."

"Because they're vulnerable to any Lunarian attack?" I asked.

"No. It's because they're frightening in their sleep."

"Eeehh?"

"Especially Bort."

* * *

Sneaking behind a sleepwalking Bort, Antarc threw a cloth over the black diamond-class gem, sending her back down, lying on the massive mattress.

"Just cover them with a cloth," Antarc explained, squatting beside the sleeping Bort.

"But why?" Phos asked.

"Beats me."

A sudden bang and the resulting ring of the school bell startled both the peppermint gem and I.

"Wh-what was that?!" we trembled in unison.

"Oh," Antarc replied, that'd be…"

* * *

We watched Sensei, his head bashed against a pillar, resulting in said pillar having a head-sized crater.

"... the sound of Sensei sinking sleepily into a wall," the ice gem finished. "I use a sheet here, too."

"Why?" Phos asked softly.

"For good measure," was the reply as Antarc covered Sensei with a cloth.

"And we have to do this every day…" Phos sighed.

"Eh," I commented, "I think we'll manage this okay."


	20. Chapter 20

_Twenty_

 _How long has it exactly been? Damn, I lost count with the inconsistent periods of daylight and darkness._

 _I think I'll not fret on it,_ I thought as I jumped from floe to floe, breaking each one before leaping off to the next, _that doesn't really matter, does it? Though, could be at least two full days. Who knows?_

Looking around, I can see Antarc breaking their share of floes at a much faster pace than me, even when using Phos' sword while letting the peppermint gem use the saw-like sword this time. Somewhere close by, I can clearly see the aforementioned peppermint gem, just watching us while having that sword resting on its sharp edge on a block of ice.

 _No problem with that, I guess. At least we're in no rush._

I returned my focus to the job before me, breaking up yet another floe.

"Antarc! Dan!"

"What's the matter?" the ice gem asked as both her and I came to Phos.

"I can't take this!" was the flustered reply from the peppermint gem.

"Whining again, are we?"

"The ice floe just spoke to me."

"Yeah, they do that."

"What?" Phos and I asked in confusion, me turning my head to face Antarc.

"According to Sensei, these ice floes are minerals just like us, so we can vaguely make out their voices. Though, the truth is that they make word like sounds, but we can't understand them."

"'This hurts.' 'This is too much.' 'I wanna go home.' I understand everything they say-" Phos managed to reply before being cut by the chilling screaming of an ice floe.

Phos had launched up to the both of us, grabbing onto one leg from each of us, shaking in fear.

"This won't do," Antarc declared.

* * *

"You understand the speech of the ice floes?" Sensei asked.

"Yes," Phos replied. "My memory may have been impeded when I lost my legs, but I clearly recall Dan and I being able to talk with someone from the sea, King Ventricosus of the Admirabilis."

"As do I," Sensei confirmed.

"Yep, that's right," I reaffirmed. "But I didn't hear the floes speak, I didn't notice or focus on anything other than breaking them. Ehh, not really, most of the time at least, but that was just when I looked at Antarc and Phos for a little moment, that's no harm done, right?"

"That's insignificant," Antarc said, "there's nothing wrong with that."

"Ah…"

 _Still, I wonder how Ventrico is holding up now…_

"That's it!" Phos suddenly shouted, slightly startling me and prompting Antarc to raise an eyebrow. "Why don't I just try getting to know these ice floes and ask them to stop shouting all the time?" she went on, showing a confident smile.

"Enough," was Sensei's reply as the ice gem sighed and lowered her head in dismay at the peppermint gem's suggestion. "The ice floes do not speak of their own will. Instead…"

Sensei stepped forward and placed a hand on Phos' head.

"They are naturally disposed to reflect the anxieties of others, and further exacerbate them. They are but 'dregs' of creatures from the beginning of time. Still your heart while in their presence."

"'Kay," was the reply from the peppermint gem as Sensei lifted his hand and turned towards Antarc, putting it on the ice gem.

Antarc smiled softly.

"Phos and Dan are keeping up with me more than I would have expected," she reported, earning a pleased look from Phos.

"While I know that there is no hope for such," Antarc continued, "I can't help but wish Phos had arms to match those legs."

The peppermint gem looked down at her own legs.

I remained silent. _Who am I to interfere here?_

 _Reflect the anxieties of others…_

* * *

We're back at work, after that short break. With a single stab, I broke apart yet another ice floe, sending its parts crashing into the sea.

As I leapt onto another floe, I decided to take a little rest. _There's no need to rush now, I'll slow down for a bit._

I sat down, placing my sword beside me.

I closed my eyes and allowed my head to rest on my arms.

"Nicole."

 _Huh?_

I immediately sat up and popped open my eyes, looking around.

There's nobody.

 _Yeah, I must be hearing things._

I slumped back down.

"Nicole."

"W-what?!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Do what?"

"What happens when everyone knows you're a human?"

"H-huh?"

"Sensei can kick you out because you're not a gem, you know?"

"That's bogus, he won't ever do that!"

"But you don't know that. You've also seen his reaction to the word 'humans', what do you think he'll do?"

I stared at the floe.

"Even if he doesn't," it continued, "what will the others think?"

"They won't mind, I'm sure!" I retorted, getting a bit worked up.

"Then why do you bother hiding your true origins from everyone else?"

I looked down. Even if it's amplified, what the floe saying was true.

But I picked up my sword and lifted my head.

"I'll wait till that day comes," I replied, stabbing the floe as hard as I could.

As I watched the ice fall into the sea, I began to think about a major issue I should have seen right from the start.

 _If I'm really caught, what do I exactly do?_

 _Would everyone still see me the same way as usual?_

 _What if Sensei ends up hating me?_

I shook my head.

 _I'm living a new life now, my past shouldn't bother me like that._

 _But why does it?_

I looked around, trying to find Phos.

 _Ah, there she is- wait, what is she doing?_

Without a moment's hesitation, I sprinted towards the peppermint gem, who was staring into a crack in the ice.

As I approached her, I stared in shock as she lifted up her arms, about to put them inside the hole.

"Phos! What are you doing?!"

The peppermint gem looked up in shock and fell back.

"Dan… What am I thinki- woah!"

Phos had slipped right next to a bigger hole.

"Phos!"

I tried to grab her as quickly as possible, but she still ended up a bit in the water.

The floes just had to smash in right at that time, sending a massive splash of water upwards with a bang.

I immediately pulled the unconscious peppermint gem out and looked.

Everything below her elbows was gone.

I fell back.

"Phos!" a shout came from behind me.

Antarc rushed over, also shocked at the scene.

"Your arms… Dan! Stay here!"

Antarc leapt into the icy cold water.

I sat there, staring into blank space.

I sat there while Phos lay beside me.

I sat there when Antarc finally came back, her right hand off but being held in her left hand.

I stared blankly as Phos came back to consciousness.

I stared blankly as Antarc pulled me back to the school.

* * *

"Reporting in. Both of Phosphophyllite's arms were lost."

Sensei stared, wide-eyed.

"The failure is all mine. I am terribly sorry," Antarc finished.

"Wha?!" was the reaction from the peppermint gem. "W-w-wait, this was clearly all my own fault."

The pencil Sensei was holding hit the floor.

"I scoured the area as completely as possible, but…" Antarc continued before faltering.

She gripped her broken hand harder, shaking.

"Never mind, I'll be more thorough this time!"

The ice gem turned around and ran, but Sensei was faster and stopped her, his arm blocking Antarc's path.

He went on to envelope her in an embrace.

"This was all due to a lack of caution on my part."

"No… It was because I'm not used to working in a team and was reckless. I've never made such a blunder before…"

Antarc rested he head against Sensei's arm.

"I don't know what to do…"

Sensei carried the ice gem up as she descended into sobbing.

Looking at the three of them, I guiltily turned around and stared into the floor.

 _Had I noticed it earlier…_

 _Had I been faster…_

 _Had I stopped listening to the floe earlier…_

 _None of these wouldn't have happened._

 _I'm solely to blame._

 _What could I have done…_

I began to think of better scenarios that I could have made things go for.

Me seeing Phos slip and reacting in the nick of time…

Me smashing the floe up early and joining Phos before everything happened…

 _I could have prevented all of this._

 _I said I'll protect Phos._

 _What kind of protection am I giving her?_

"I'm… useless."

I felt a hand on my head.

"An untrue statement," a voice behind me went.

Turning around slowly, I noticed that the hand was from Sensei.

"B-but… I could have been faster..."

"What has happened has already happened, young Danburite; do not wallow on it or else we'll never get anywhere. You have done what you've could and surely have prevented something worse from happening."

I looked up.

"I… I don't know what to say…"

"Then do not say anything," Sensei replied, rubbing his hand on my head. "In some occasions, silence comes before words."

"..."

I looked at Sensei.

"Now, we must not dwell on the past. We still have agate left, but Antarcticite and Phosphophyllite have both agreed to go to the Chord Shore."

"Chord Shore?"

"Indeed. The Chord Shore is where all of you were born, with the exception of you."

Sensei removed his hand and put down Antarc, who was still in his arms the whole time.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

"No, Dan, you're not at fault here! We've gone through that a few times already!"

Both Phos and I trudged through the snow together, Antarc still ahead.

"You were very fast, Dan. You saved my sorry body two times already, you know?"

"I wish you didn't lose your body parts though…"

We continued walking.

"Still, Phos, what were you thinking back there?"

"The floe told me to let it break my arms off, so that I can get stronger ones."

"Huh? Why the sudden thought?"

"I… just want to become stronger, Dan. My three-half hardness is not going to be useful anyway…"

"No, Phos, I like the way you are now. I rather you stay like this instead of being someone different, you're the most cheerful one out of all of us. I don't want anything to change that. Not ever."

Phos stared at me, surprised.

"Eheh… what?"

The peppermint gem broke into a small smile.

"So that's what you truly think about me… Thanks."

"Ehh?"

Phos giggled. "Just keep walking, it's nothing that you should worry abou-"

A heavy gust of wind hit us, knocking Phos off balance.

This time, I grabbed onto her just in time.

"Thanks again."

Antarc stopped ahead, allowing us to catch up and walk alongside her.

* * *

"We're here," the ice gem said.

A massive, cliff-like rock loomed ahead the three of us. We're on a white beach, somewhere I've only went to once.

"Dan, this is Chord Shore," Antarc introduced. "We also call it 'The Beach of Beginnings', since this is where we were all born."

 _So this is where Rutile was referring to…_

"Ah, speaking of which, why were you not born here? You're the only one that didn't come from here, from what Sensei told me earlier on."

The ice gem turned to face me.

"Ehh, I don't know…" I replied, feeling myself sweat.

Antarc sighed.

"Never mind that, now we need to find a suitable material. Follow me, you two."

We walked closer to the massive rock.

"Ancient organisms decompose in the sea, turning into inorganic substances, and spend up to hundreds of millions of years working their way through the earth… to be born again here," the ice gem explained.

Just as she was done, a small, red gemstone began to emerge from the rock, a good distance above us.

As the gem fully emerged, it fell and landed right in front of Phos, kicking up snow.

"It is only on the rarest of occasions that they are born like us," Antarc continued as both Phos and I ran forward, looking at the red piece. "And most simply wind up like that there. Such knowledge among other things is then taught to us by Sensei, and we are given work among our kind. And we become what we are today. Do you remember any of that?"

Phos nodded. "Most of it."

"Is that so?"

A sudden strong blast of wind behind startled both me and the peppermint gem.

Turning around, I noticed that Antarc had swung her sword like a fan, blowing off the snow to reveal small pieces of materials strewn everywhere.

These pieces are gold or silver-colored and rather plentiful around here.

I looked at one of the gold ones.

 _Wait._

 _What if…_

"Hey, Antarc!"

"What is it?"

"Is this actual gold?"

The ice gem stared at me in surprise. "How can you possibly know that?"

 _Oh, drat, not again._

"I… I… heard about them before winter came! Yeah, I heard someone talking about it! Ehehe…"

Antarc continued staring at me.

 _I'm getting a sense of deja vu._

"Eheh, what?"

"You're a little odd, I'll give you that. But do you know what those silver-looking ones are?"

I looked around.

"Eh, nope."

"That is platinum."

"Ehh? Really?"

"Yes. There's nothing here but gold and platinum."

Antarc paused.

"This won't do."

"It won't?" Phos asked, looking at a piece of gold.

"Gold and platinum are both extremely soft and malleable. And more crucially," the ice gem explained, trying to lift up a larger piece of gold but giving up, "they're far too heavy. They're useless."

"Well shoot…" Phos sighed, looking down at the fold piece ahead of them.

"Even after they've made it all this way."

Antarc looked at her in a weird gaze.

* * *

"Hey," I asked as Antarc prepared to fit a piece of gold into Phos' left arm, "I thought you said they're useless?"

"Well," Antarc replied, giving me a small smirk, "only one way to find out."

With a soft clang, the gold piece attached itself to Phos.

"I've affixed it temporarily."

"Mmh," was the acknowledgment from the peppermint gem.

"I'm going to let go now."

Phos' new "arm" hit the ground almost immediately.

"Oof!"

"I thought as much. But your body doesn't seem to have rejected it. Your inclusions might still take a liking to it. The only problem is that weight. We could maybe hollow out the inside or… hm?"

Turning around, Antarc noticed the sun was finally out, the clouds moving away.

 _Hey…_

I stared at Phos.

Phos stared at her new material.

'Let's take it off for now," Antarc said, oblivious to everything happening behind. "We're heading back."

"Uh…" I called, "Antarc…"

The ice gem turned around.

We watched in both awe and surprise as the gold liquefied and sprouted out of Phos' other arm. Somehow, the gold itself have increased in its amount, and it isn't showing any signs of slowing down.

"Uh…" Phos managed to blurt out, "I don't think I can…"

As the gold grew, a familiar black spot appeared behind Antarc.

"Antarc!" I shouted, pointing towards the all-too familiar dark area, "Lunarians!"

The ice gem turned back, before anxiously turning back to look at Phos.

"Hey… uh…" Phos uttered as the gold began to wrap around the peppermint gem, "I'm kind of getting engulfed. Wouldn't you say I'm being engulfed?!"

"W-wait…" Antarc looked in shock.

"Hey! What's happening to me, Antarcticite?! What is this?! What does it mean?!"

It's safe to say that all of us are panicking now.

"I don't-" Antarc wanted to say before abruptly leaping off to the side and grabbing her sword.

A spear landed at where she once stood on.

"I'm sorry…" Phos muttered as the dark spot enlarged further.

"Save it for once we're clear. Dan, stay with Phos!"

"A-alright!"

As Antarc leapt off to the cloud, I tried to reach Phos, now trapped inside the gold.

"Phos! Can you move?"

"Not at all! Dan, help me!"

"I'm trying!"

I tried reaching for Phos inside. Not working.

I tried to pry the gold away. No effect.

Soon, I was out of ideas.

"Phos, don't worry, I'll keep on trying till you're-"

"I WON'T LET YOU STEAL MY MEMORIES OF SENSEI!"

Started by Antarc's shouting, I turned to look at the cloud.

From what I can make out from here, there are floating "balls" of something red being attached to what remained of the large Lunarian via small strings.

I heard an enraged cry from the ice gem up there.

"What in the goddam- ah!"

I was thrown back by the gold.

Looking at Phos, I realized that the gold had formed itself into a box of sorts.

"Phos!"

I ran back to the peppermint gem.

"Hey! Are you okay in there?"

"Hey, it isn't that bad. But I can't move, help me out still…"

"Ehh? What do I do-"

A sudden hissing made me turn my head.

Noticing the cloud start to dissolve, I sighed in relief.

"Hey, Phos, Antarc did it."

I watched as pieces of Antarc hit the ground, the ice gem herself emerging from a pile of snow.

"Hey, Antarc!" I called out.

She just stood there.

"Hey!" Phos called out.

The ice jem just put her left hand on her face. _What is she thinking about?_

"Hey!" both Phos and I called out in unison.

Antarc finally turned around.

"Come on!" Phos sulked.

The ice gem limped over.

"Hey, Antarc," I asked the battered gem, "are you okay?"

"I'm okay."

She looked at the box.

"You've… changed."

"No, no, I'm inside…"

Antarc used her broken (and pretty sharp) right leg to kick the box. "Does this mean your inclusions liked it, or does it mean they didn't?"

"I can't move. Get me out of here, you two!"

Antarc sighed and put her remaining arm and leg on the grille-like opening of the box, beginning to pull.

"Hey, what's with the violence?!" Phos shouted. "Be a bit gentler!"

"Just deal with it!" Antarc shouted back, her cracking visibly heard.

"Antarc," I said, "let me do it, you're in bad shape."

"No; only room for one here, Dan."

"But you're breaking!"

"Trust me, I'm fine!"

"Careful!" Phos shouted from inside. "Watch it! You're gonna hit me!"

"Hush now!"

"Uwaaaaah! You scraped me! You definitely just scraped me!"

"Enough already!"

"Come on, take it a bit easier!"

"Yeah," I chimed in, "you're pretty damaged as of now."

"No, I'm doing it, just watch from the side! Phos, this doesn't even hurt, right?"

"Well no, but…"

Phos sighed as Antarc prodded her heels into the grille again.

"Still, I'm glad you're s-"

Antarc suddenly broke up.

For a few moments, I stared, dumbfounded.

The culprit, a spear, landed beside us.

 _Oh no._

"Antarc-" Phos choked out.

I saw Antarc put a finger to her lips before really falling apart.

Turning around quickly, a new Lunarian cloud had reappeared.

I stared at it for a moment.

I drew out my sword.

"Here goes…" I muttered, moving into a defensive position.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey, author here, sorry for the delay. By the way, I've been reading the reviews from you guys. I'll sincerely like to say, thank you all for the support.**

 _Twenty-one_

I used my sword to block another wave of arrows.

Mimicking what I saw Dia do, I swung them back at the Lunarians, taking down multiple Lunarians.

Another relentless wave of arrows came and went.

"Phos! Are you okay in there?!"

No response from the box.

"Phos!"

I narrowly dodged a stray arrow, which bounced off the gold box like it was rubber.

 _Damn, I can't do much when I'm supposed to play the defensive instead of the offensive. So little room for manoeuvre…_

Blocking yet another wave of arrows, I felt my sword begin to significantly crack.

 _I can't keep this up. If only I had those daggers with me right now…_

"Mmmph!"

That came from inside the box.

I swiftly turned around.

"Phos! Can you hear m-"

I felt something go through my chest from behind, the impact breaking off my limbs.

Looking down, I could clearly see the arrow protrude out of my chest.

Before I could react, I felt another arrow go through my neck.

I saw my own torso as my head was thrown leftwards, before hitting the ground and rolling for a bit.

Everything started to feel light.

 _So this is what it feels like to be broken…_

* * *

I couldn't move while the Lunarians came down.

I couldn't move while they collected the parts of me and Antarc (I could hear them).

I couldn't move when one of them picked my head up and placed it into a basket.

I couldn't do anything while I was being carried to the Lunarian ship.

I was on the brink of passing out, yet somehow I haven't lost consciousness yet.

 _Is this the end of me?_

 _Is everything that happened in this world going to end here?_

 _Phos…_

 _I'm scared…_

 _Please… help me._

 _Please…_

I felt my basket drop.

My head fell out and faced where Phos would be.

All I saw…

… was Phos emerging from a golden ball that was opening like a flower, looking very pissed.

Then everything finally blacked out.

* * *

 _White room._

 _Well, not really a "room"._

 _White world then?_

 _Yep, white world._

 _I looked around. Absolutely nothing._

 _I turned back to check again. Yep, nothing._

 _However, when I turned around, a figure startled me._

 _There I am. Nicole, just right ahead of me, facing me._

 _Black hair tied in a bun. That's my regular hairstyle, that's for sure._

 _I took a step forward. That other "me" took a step forward too._

 _Huh?_

 _Looking around, I noticed it was just a massive mirror._

 _Oh, that explains it._

 _I walked towards my reflection._

 _I reached my hand out…_

… _but my hand doesn't look like Nicole's._

 _I looked at my hand. This is Danburite's._

 _Looking at the mirror, I was surprised to see Danburite._

 _White hair, twintails. A contrast to Nicole's hairstyle, I guess._

 _Nicole's looking from the side._

 _Wait, what?_

 _I turned left. Nicole was looking at me._

 _I quickly turned right. There Dan is, looking at me._

 _I stepped back and the two of them walked in front of me, standing side by side._

" _Hey, you," Nicole started._

" _Yep, you," Dan continued._

" _Who exactly are you?"_

" _Are you the 15 year old human girl?"_

" _Or are you the seven-half hard humanoid gem?"_

" _Make a choice," both of them finished together._

 _I pondered over it for a while._

 _Hey, the answer's pretty obvious, now that I think about it._

" _That's easy," I replied, "both."_

 _Everything whitened._

* * *

Darkness.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, allowing light to flood in.

"Sensei, Dan's awake."

"Dan!"

I felt someone hug me tightly.

Fully opening my eyes, I looked to my side as the peppermint gem continued her tight embrace, sobbing. Behind her, Antarc and Sensei were watching, the ice gem giving me a soft smile.

"Dan," Phos choked, releasing her hug and pulling back to look at me with golden tears rolling down her cheeks, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Phos…" I said, "your eyes…"

"Yeah, I know, but I don't care, I nearly lost you!"

Phos went back to hugging me.

"I… I'm so sorry!" she choked out in between sobs.

"Phos…"

I returned the hug and smiled.

"It's not your fault at all. You couldn't do anything, I don't blame you for that."

Phos continued sobbing. "I… I was so close to… to losing you… and Antarc…"

"But we're here now, everything's alright now."

Phos didn't stop.

"There, there, everything's fine now," I comforted.

Antarc unexpectedly walked up and hugged Phos.

"Dan is right, it's alright now."

* * *

"Hey, Phos."

"Yes?"

"You can let go of me now."

"No."

"Ehh, come on now, you're not feeling better yet?"

"I feel better, but I want to keep you close to me now."

I smiled.

"I won't leave you, I promise."

"Hey, Dan," Antarc called, climbing down Rutile's shelf.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Don't bother trying to get Phos off, they were clinging onto me before you too. That's not what I want to talk about though; here, this is your uniform."

The ice gem showed me the uniform, the shirts each having a hole through the center.

"Red Beryl's not going to be happy…"

"We'll get it patched up soon enough. In the meantime, wear one of my spares."

"Ah, alright. Thanks, Antarc."

"No problem. By the way, Phos was the one who saved us."

"Wow, really?"

"Yep!" Phos replied, releasing her hug and sitting back. "Look, these arms finally listened to me right before the Lunarians brought you two up, so I managed to stop them and hold them off until Sensei arrived. Now the gold runs through my entire body. It feels weird, but in a good way."

"Nice," I replied, looking at the peppermint gem's new arms. "Thanks for the save."

She grinned. "No prob! Still, I have to be serious at the right time now," she continued, putting p a completely new air. "I nearly lost some of the ones that meant the most to me, I cannot let that happen again. Which is why, Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"Please trim my hair," Phos requested, passing me a pair of scissors.

"Ehh, you sure?"

"Yeah. Just a bit shorter that'll make my hair look neater, that'll work enough."

"Well, alright…" I replied, getting up.

* * *

Antarc and I stared at Phos' hair in silence. Phos was using a mirror, and seemed pretty surprised at the outcome.

"I-it's too short! I'm sorry, I screwed up!"

Phos and Antarc continued staring.

Antarc suddenly burst into laughter, and Phos followed suit.

"Uh, eheh?" I uttered in confusion.

"It's perfect," Phos reassured, turning to look at me in the eye. "Thank you."

I blushed. "Ehh, no problem," I uttered, trying to avoid eye contact

Phos giggled. "You look really cute now, you know?"

I blushed harder.

Antarc chuckled. "Stop teasing Dan, Phos. Also, nothing's changed, we missed a whole day of work that Sensei covered for us yesterday. Dan, get out of your robes."

The ice gem threw over her spare uniform, which I caught.

"Make it quick."

Phos smiled and looked at me with a "yeah, back to business" gaze.

I returned the smile.

* * *

"Is this one of the regulars?" I asked, looking at the Lunarians.

"Seems like it," Antarc replied, their arrows being stopped easily by a gold shield that Phos had put up.

The three of us watched in silence.

"Dan," Phos asked, "why are you holding me so tightly?"

"I-I'm afraid of heights…"

"For real?" Antarc chimed in.

"Yeah, but it's nothing. Just…an annoyance."

"Guess that's fine," Phos replied. "So, do I end it now?"

"Yeah, end it," Antarc confirmed. "Only one way to find out for sure."

"Okay. Dan?"

"Yep, just slice it."

"Alright," Phos confirmed, using her sword to slice off the giant Lunarian's head.

The whole cloud began to disappear in a hissing puff of steam. _Yep, old._

"Sensei," Phos called down behind us, "they were indeed the old type."

Hearing something whistle in the air, I turned around to see an arrow flying towards us.

With quick thinking, Sensei intercepted the arrow just before it managed to hit any of us.

The gold platform the three of us were standing on began to liquefy and became unstable.

"Woaaaaaaaaah!"

I plummeted down, backfirst.

I felt a cold liquid against my back, which slowed me down.

I hit the ground with a soft thud.

Completely unharmed, I got up and looked towards the source of the "cushion".

"Nice save, Phos."

"Thanks."

It's been a while (understatement, winter is almost over now) since that incident, and boy, winter was never as hard as before. The bond between the three of us gems have strengthened greatly, and Phos has indeed changed into a more serious gem whenever it comes to work. That being said, she's still more or less the same old Phos once work is over, so I'm glad for that.

Also, both Phos and I have gotten Antarc to open up more since that day. The ice gem still was pretty cold (no pun intended), but boh Phos and I have noticed that she has began smiling much more these days.

"You've mastered the ability to alter your alloy membrane's thickness to match the trajectory of the arrows," Sensei spoke to Phos as we regathered. "Now you must learn to maintain your balance."

"Yes, my apologies. I'll work to control these abilities."

Turning round, Phos sheathed her sword.

"We will see to the ice floes now," Antarc reported as we began to take our leave.

"Wait."

The three of us turned around.

"Take some time to rest," Sensei suggested.

"Not necessary," the ice gem replied.

"I'm holding up well myself," Phos added on. "Antarc would have to sleep soon too, there's no time to waste."

"That alloy has stretched throughout you like a net in order to support the weight of those arms," Sensei prodded. "Each time you unleash that alloy, fine cracks run across your entire body, do they not?"

"Yes," Phos confirmed, "but the truth is, as long as these two are around, I somehow never feel tired. Everything, no matter how tough, just feels… relaxing."

Antarc and I looked at Phos in surprise.

Phos looked back.

"Huh? What? Isn't this true for all of us? Dan? Antarc?!"

Silence.

"Aw, come on!"

Antarc suddenly burst into laughter.

"Yes, Phos," Antarc replied, stifling her laughter but still keeping a smile nonetheless, "that's how it feels to me too. Dan?"

I smiled and nodded. "Same here."

Phos frowned a bit. "Then why were you two looking at me like that? Don't scare me like that!"

I giggled. "Yeah, sorry."

"Yeah, stop pouting," Antarc added on.

Phos lightened up. "Alright, alright. Anyway, Sensei, we'll deal with the ice floes now."

Sensei nodded silently. "Do be careful."

"Yes," all of us replied simultaneously.

* * *

The three of us watched the sunset from the cliff, almost done with our work.

The sea was almost back to normal, with just a single floe left.

"I almost made a bad call and threw this," Phos suddenly said, looking down at her sword.

"Huh?" I puzzled.

"I wanted to throw my sword at the Lunarians when I was fighting them, but that'll be futile. Sensei came at the right time, but I could just have reached out…"

Phos extended their right arm and entangled the top of the floe with the alloy.

Pulling back her arm, the peppermint gem broke the spherical section off.

Bringing back the alloy, she looked at the fragments of ice, still being held on my her alloy.

"Things would have been so much easier."

"You've grown a lot," Antarc commented. "Maybe losing your arms was not such a bad thing after all."

Phos smiled. "Maybe. This strength feels great! Hey, Antarc…"

The peppermint retracted her arm back to normal and hugged Antarc tightly.

"Tell me, do you like me now? Come on, tell me, tell me!"

"T-too tight…" the ice gem managed to blurt out before breaking free of Phos' grasp.

"Some things _just_ never change, do they? Still…"

Antarc looked away, lightly blushing.

"I… guess I do prefer the 'new' you…"

The peppermint gem immediately lit up, proceeding to hug Antarc again, this time with a tighter grasp.

"Senpai likes me, Senpai likes me!"

"H-hey, get off me!" Antarc shouted, but also seems to be enjoying the moment too.

"Dan! Get Phos off me!"

"A-alright…"

I inched towards the two of them.

"U…hh… Phos, Antarc wants you to get off..."

"No! I'm going to keep this up until I'm happy!" was the reply from the peppermint gem.

Antarc groaned. "Not like that, Dan! Pull them off!"

"Ehh?!"

"Yes, do it!"

"Alright…" I replied, grabbing the peppermint gem's torso and pulling back as hard as I can.

"Dan! Stop! I think I'll break!"

"Ehh?! Then what do I do?!"

"Don't do anythi- hey!"

Antarc took the chance when Phos was distracted to break free.

"See you two back at the school!" the ice gem shouted before tripping over her own feet.

"Ow!"

"Hahah, I'm coming for you now Antarc!" was the reaction from Phos as she ran towards Antarc, but she tripped over a stone and proceeded to roll down the slope.

"Phos!" I shouted as I ran forward, only to slip on a small puddle of water and rolling down the slope myself.

I crashed into Phos, who had crashed into Antarc.

The three of us sat up and looked at each other…

… before spontaneously breaking into fits of laughter simultaneously.

A few moments were spent laughing our heads off.

"H-hey…" Phos managed to utter as we stopped, "There's something we need to do."

"What is it?" I asked.

* * *

"We'd like to fix your robes for you, Sensei," Phos said.

"Eh-" Sensei blurted out in surprise.

"If you don't change out of those, Red Beryl will be furious when they wake up," Phos explained. "I can already hear it now, 'How can you do this?!'"

"But I have no other robes," Sensei pointed out.

"It'll be fine."

"Will it?"

"These arms aren't as bad as they used to be, moreover Antarc and Dan will help. Right?"

The two of us nodded.

"See? It'll be fine! We can also patch up Dan's uniform while we're at it too."

* * *

Phos worked on the outer robes as Sensei wore his inner robes behind. At the same time, I finished fixing the gaping hole of my black overshirt, under Antarc's guidance.

We've been working through the whole night, reading up using Red Beryl's books and guides about sewing. When it came to the actual sewing, I was supposed to work on Sensei's inner robes, but Antarc managed to convince me to let her do it instead, so here I am, sewing my own uniform.

Looking out, I could see the sunlight beginning to approach.

 _Damn, Katsumi must be lonely…_

"This is a first for me," Phos commented. "Watching winter fade away to spring."

"And about time for me to go too," Antarc added on.

"Living beings change at such a fast pace, don't they? It's frightening."

"You do, too," Sensei joined in.

"That's…"

Phos thought about it for a moment.

"You're right."

The four of us watched as the sun rose.

"Oh," Phos went back on track, "your robes are done."

"Thank you."

Sensei took his robes back.

"Now, I must insist that you all rest now. It won't be long."

* * *

"Antarc…" I called.

"What is it?"

"Your spare uniform…" I uttered, holding them out towards the ice gem.

Antarc smiled.

"You keep it."

"Eh? No, I can't, this is yours, I can't just take it-"

Antarc put both her hands on my shoulders and stared at me.

"When winter comes again, I want to see you wear that again. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes…"

Antarc smirked a bit and let go. "I didn't scare you, did I?"

"A little…"

"Well, get used to it the winter. Alright. Phosphophyllite, Danburite, it's been a great time working with the two of you. I'll see you two when winter comes again."

"Goodbye," Phos replied.

"It's been equally nice meeting you too," I added on.

"Phos, take care of Dan well. And Dan."

"Yeah?"

"Try not to talk in your sleep," the ice gem said before smirking again, "human."

"Ehh?!"

"Don't worry, Phos told me everything while you were out the other day, I won't tell anyone. Not even Sensei. Well, I really have to go, see you two next winter!"

Antarc waved as they ran off, back to her tub before she starts to melt.

Waving back, I stopped and looked at Phos.

"Hey, Phos."

"What is it?"

"... Do I talk in my sleep often?"

Phos smiled. "Not as far as I know, and your room's just next to me. You're fine."

* * *

"Sorry, Katsumi, I just don't get time to come back to my room much with all those work around," I apologized while setting the white uniform down on the window stille.

"It's fine, it's fine. I wasn't cooped up in your room all the time either."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you heard me right," Katsumi smiled as she sat on my bed. "I had to change the jellyfishes 3 times a day, so I waited till everyone was busy before sneaking out."

"You could have been caught by Sensei…"

"Nah, no worries at all! So, the rest would wake up soon, right?"

"Yep. I'll need to get Sphene to remove the wood, since the glue's just too strong."

"Eh, Dan?"

"You're great, thinking of this idea to keep yourself warm. You also secured the planks well, even that blizzard couldn't batter it down."

"Uh, Dan…"

"Yeah, that worked better than expected. Good thinking, Katsumi, everything held nicely. Perhaps we should-"

"Uh…" Phos uttered at the doorway.

I spinned around.

"Ah, Phos, nice timing. We'll have to wake them up soon, right?"

"Well, yeah but…"

Phos looked at the bed, raising an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

I looked at Katsumi in shock, still in her human form and on my bed.

Katsumi shrugged. "Well, you're busted."

* * *

"So," Phos confirmed, "you're someone from another world thinking of settling down here."

"Yeah, basically," Katsumi reaffirmed.

The lights from the jellyfishes reflected off our faces, both Phos and I sitting on the floor while Katsumi remained on the bed..

Phos smiled.

"Well, I'll like you here, but I'm not sure if Sensei would approve. You can turn into what you call a butterfly, right?"

"Yep."

"That'll not be a problem then, just stay hidden. Dan, you really should tell me more about whatever secrets you're hiding."

"Ehehe…"

"I'll talk to you more soon, Katsumi," Phos said.

"No problem, just find me in Dan's room!"

"Alright then. Dan, we're going to wake them up now."

"Sure thing," I replied, getting up.

* * *

"So," I asked as both the peppermint gem and I stood in front of the door, "how do we wake them up?"

"We'll just let sunlight in, they'll wake up soon enough," was the reply as Phos opened the door.

Yellow Dia was the first to get up, opening her eyes.

Dia yawned. "Is it spring already?"

Jade was next. "Everyone, get up," she called out as she shook Euclase.

"You can sleep a while longer," Phos said. "I'll deal with the preparations and cleanup for the morning meeting."

"Thanks, Antarcticite…" Rutile muttered sleepily.

"Nah, Antarcticite's off to rest already."

Rutile got up and stared at me.

"Eheh…" I muttered nervously.

Rutile turned their attention to the peppermint gem.

Phos smiled.

"Phos… Is that you?"

"Yep."

"Your hair… and your arms!"

"Long story, I'll tell you all about it later. Hey, quack doc, do I look better?"

"You…"

Rutle wanted to jump up, but after thinking about it, she let it slide, relaxing herself.

"You do look neater. An overall improvement, I'll say."

Phos smiled softly. "Aw, thanks…"

"Hey, what's with that? Anyway, could you go check on Cinnabar for me? And mention that, if possible, attendance at the meeting would be preferred."

Phos stared blankly at the doctor. "Cinnabar?"

"Ah, right. 'Anything but that," yes? Fine, I'll go myself."

"No, I'll go," the peppermint gem replied as Rutile stood up. "But Cinnabar… is who exactly?"

The doctor stared at Phos in shock.

I was pretty surprised too, but hey, Phos lost her arms (or half her arms), I had seen some form of memory loss coming. But still, of all things, Cinnabar?

"Wait, wait, wait," the peppermint gem yelped, facepalming. "Dan."

"Huh? Yeah?"

"What color is Cinnabar?"

"Uh, red."

"Ah, yeah, I still remember. Red, gives out poison, goes on a night patrol, and the both of us promised to find her a fun job. Why did I forget their name? Ugh…"

Phos removed her hand from her face.

"Right, now that I'm sure that's Cinnabar, Rutile," she continued, blushing, "you're right, anything but that! I'm in no shape to face them now…"

Rutile sweatdropped, annoyance written all over their face..

"Yeah, I'll go myself."

"I'm gonna start handing out our summer uniforms!" Red Beryl called out, already up and running and in clothes that I'm never seen before. "Oh, there you are, Dan!"

* * *

I looked at my reflection. As usual, Red Beryl has done an excellent job at her tailoring.

This uniform is made up of basically a collared shirt, loose shorts that have shoulder straps and a small black tie. The shoulder straps are sewed and go straight up at the front before crossing into an "X" at the back, where finally they're secured by a button each. The shirt's collar is not as tall as the one in the summer uniform, and the shirt and shorts themselves are significantly less tight than the summer uniforms, which is a nice difference.

The carefree spring uniform really is made for spring.

"Thanks, Red Beryl."

"Don't mention it! By the way," the tailor asked while tying my hair up, "you said you were looking for Sphene?"

"Ah, yeah. Do you know where she- _they_ are?"

 _I really have to get used to this gender thing._

"You'll find them at the woodshop. You've been there before, right?"

"Yep."

"Then you should be good to go! Oh, why are you looking for Sphene anyway?"

I paused for a moment. "Well… I have something I'd like them to help me remove."

* * *

"Woah, Dan. How did you do this?"

Sphene and I looked at the planks that boarded up my room's windows.

"Eheh," I replied, "just took some glue and pasted it up. Sorry for taking your wood, I should've asked you for permission first…"

"No, it's fine. Still, you could have asked, but this…" the brownish-esque gem uttered, fascinated, "this held up over winter?"

"Mmh."

"My, my! This can finally stop all those snow coming into our rooms while we hibernate! You had the same thoughts too, right?"

"U-uh, yeah."

 _I wonder what Sphene would say if I told her that it was to keep someone warm…_

The "someone" I was referring to moved her wings in her butterfly form, resting close to the ceiling on the walls.

"This will take a while to remove, but I'll get them off just fine," Sphene commented, taking a saw and trying to wedge the wooden blocks from the walls. "Hey, by the way, you spend so much time with Phos but hardly spend time with us! We miss you!"

Sphene turned towards me, pouting.

"Eheheh, sorry, I'll try spending time with you guys."

"Heh, no problem! Red Beryl especially wants you to talk to them more, for some reason. Said something along the lines of you being a great model for them- ah! It's out."

The woodworks gem pulled one row of the blocks out before using the planks as pivots to dislodge the other row of blocks.

"One more window to go, right?"

"Yep."

"I'll need them back so that I can make a proper seal for the windows. This will be interesting."

I smiled.


	22. Chapter 22

_Twenty-two_

"Hurry up," Phos urged while we walked briskly, "we're already late as it is."

"Sorry, I didn't keep track of the time. Hey Phos, do clocks exist here?"

"Huh?"

The peppermint glanced at me.

"What's a 'clock'?"

"It's something we humans use to keep track of time. I don't suppose it carried over here?"

"No, not at all. Hey, we'll talk about that later, morning meeting first."

We took a corner.

"Sensei wants us to tell the others about that time the Lunarians almost took me and Antarc?"

"Yep."

"No problem, but I'm kinda nervous when it comes to presentations…"

Phos chuckled. "Don't worry, with me around you don't need to feel awkward or anything. I'll probably do most of the talking anyway, you fainted, right?"

"Eheh, yeah…"

"I think we'll have to run now," Phos commented, moving into a sprint. "Try to keep up?" she smirked.

"Hey, wait up!"

* * *

"No fair!" I shouted as I finally caught up to Phos, who had just arrived too.

"Sorry for being late," I apologized to everyone in front of me as I caught my breath.

Looking up, I noticed everyone staring at Phos in surprise.

"Alongside Antarcticite, Phosphophyllite and Danburite handled the rest of winter," Sensei continued from the announcement both the peppermint gem and I had just missed.

"What?!" was the reaction from the other gems.

"Inform everyone as to the details of the attack," Sensei instructed to the both of us.

"As you wish," Phos replied as she made her way to the table.

"Sure," was my reply as I followed.

The other gems were whispering among themselves as Phos walked.

"Something seems different…"

"Yeah."

"And that hair…"

"Those arms…"

The both of us stood behind the table, which had the map usually used for such meetings neatly opened up on top.

"Antarcticite and Danburite were almost captured trying to protect me," Phos began. "Allow me to explain what occurred."

The peppermint gem extended their right arm to grab the wooden pieces.

A collective gasp came from the other gems.

"Antarc engaged with and defeated a new form of Lunarian carrying Pink Fluorite on the Chord Shore," Phos went on, placing a normal piece and a Lunarian piece at the positions. "Another appeared immediately afterwards. It was small, but unlike anything in Alex's reports."

Phos took out the wooden Lunarian piece and placed a smaller one down at the same position.

"At the center stood a vessel surrounded by ordinary Lunarians and eight larger than any seen before. Uh, something like this."

Phos used her other arm's alloy to form a rough, gold mock-up of the Lunarian she was talking about in front of everyone.

"Something like this."

Everyone was either fascinated or terrified at the sight. I can't tell.

"They were set around the vessel, shooting their arrows down. Antarc was hit with the first arrow and broke apart, and Dan immediately stepped forward to defend all of us. They fought well, but eventually they were also hit and fell right in front of me… huh?"

The younger gems had already proceeded to hide behind their seniors and Sensei.

 _Yep, terrified._

Phos stared at the scene, unsure of what to do.

"Phos…" Dia asked, hiding with Benitoite behind Bort, "is that… your arm?"

"Y-yeah… I lost both arms to the ice floes, but was lucky to get this gold and platinum alloy. Mostly gold, judging from its color," she replied, looking at her retracted right arm while her left arm has receded into a small puddle in front of everyone. "So I've just been using it. I… it's not dangerous or anything…"

Phos turned towards me.

"Hey…" she whispered, "I think I'm scaring them, what do I do?"

"Maybe try making something that they like?" I whispered back. "What _do_ you guys like anyway?"

"Flowers," was the reply. "Oh, got it."

Phos made out a few small flowers in front of everyone out from the puddle.

"See?"

Everyone just ran off and hid behind the pillars, save from a few. Dia was still behind Bort, while Alex was peeking out in interest behind Sensei. Rutile was just standing there, surprised but otherwise interested.

Phos sweatdropped. "Oh, come on…"

The peppermint gem turned towards me. "What did I do wrong? Are my arms really that scary?"

I shook my head. "Not to me. So, what now?"

Phos retracted her left arm. "I'm not too sure myself. Sensei?"

* * *

"Are my arms really that scary to everyone else?" Phos complained as Rutile applied powder to her legs. "Antarc and you don't seem to have any issues to them."

I gave a comforting smile. "It's probably just for a short while, I'm sure everyone will be okay with it after some time has passed."

"I hope so…"

"Aw come on Phos, cheer up! The new you is moodier than the old you, can I have some of that old cheerful behavior you used to have?"

The peppermint gem smiled. "If you say so. You're such a sweet, sweet junior!"

She proceeded to hug me tightly.

"Woa- hey, some warning would be fine!"

The both of us giggled.

"Some things just never change," I heard Rutile comment. "Hey, Phos, stay still."

Phos let go of me, still smiling.

"I hadn't given it much thought before," Phos uttered, "but it's kind of embarrassing having such a weird body like this."

"You're fine the way you are," the doctor replied, "don't keep thinking like that."

"Ah, don't do it for my arms," Phos said as Rutile wanted to move on to the peppermint gem's arms. "They'll just stretch and all that powder will fall off anyway."

"All right then."

Rutile stood up.

Phos felt her gold stiletto heels.

"Hey," I asked, "how did you get those?"

"Oh, the just popped out of my shoes when the alloy began to flow through me. That's where I let my alloy flow to create those platforms. You didn't notice?"

"No, not at all."

Phos giggled. "Pay more attention next time."

"Yeah…"

"Hey, Rutile, how's Cinnabar?"

"Just like always," was the reply. "Entirely uninterested in joining our meeting. If you're worried, why not go out and pay a visit?"

Phos blushed. "I-I have nothing to say anyway, so it's a no. Besides…"

She blushed even harder.

"I don't know, but these days… I find myself embarrassed whenever I think about them. What is happening to me?"

I smirked. "Could it be love?"

The peppermint gem's cheeks went red.

"I-it's not that!"

"It apparently is," I replied, resting back. "See, even your face is showing it."

Phos covered her face. "W-why must you…"

I chuckled. "I honestly didn't know that was actually the case, that was just a wild guess."

The peppermint gem looked up at me, smiling lightly.

"Still, other than that, my arms too.."

She looked at her hands.

A twig appeared out of nowhere and poked the peppermint gem's left arm.

"Huh?"

Turning right, I noticed a few gems that have arrived, most likely to check out at Phos' alloy.

Understatement. Seven of them are here. Morg, Goshe, Dia, Zircon, Yellow Dia, Benito and Neptunite. Dia was the one poking with the twig.

"Wow!" They all exclaimed in unison.

"Uh…"

A flurry of words engulfed the peppermint gem.

"What?" was what Phos could utter as she turned to face them.

"Stretch!" Dia requested.

"Eh, that really takes it out of me, you know-"

"Listen you!" Red Beryl shouted as she appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the peppermint gem from behind by the shoulders.

"How could you do this?!" the red tailor shouted as she shook Phos hard. "Your winter clothes are a mess and now you aren't even the same size as before! I'll have to make you a brand new summer uniform! And don't just go changing your hairstyle like that!"

Red Beryl whipped out a measuring tape and began to quickly measure Phos' size as the others grabbed onto the alloy right arm and stretched it.

"I designed your outfit with my own image of you in mind! ARGH! See! You're so much bigger now! AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The tailor sat down on the floor and threw a small tantrum, frustrated at the changed dimensions.

"Phos' body is now home to large quantities of alloy and has grown to accommodate it," Rutile explain as she searched for something in her cupboard.

"Look how much it stretches!" Morg shouted excitedly as Yellow Dia pulled the arm further and further.

"It's not done yet!" Dia shouted, equally excited.

"Not even close!" Yellow Dia replied.

"Keep going!" Dia urged.

"Phos!" Obsidian called out over the commotion from Phos' left as she arrived and gently grabbed the peppermint gem's left arm. "About your sword," the blacksmith began to ask as Red Beryl went back to taking measurements and shouting in frustration, "why not just take this and combine it right with your arms here or something crazy like that? Can you strip down for me _right now_?"

"What?!" I exclaimed, amused at everything that was going on.

"Oh!" Rutile called out. "If you do just stay that way for me too!"

She pulled out a few tools.

"I was just thinking how I wanted to dissect you!" the doctor replied cheerfully.

"You quack!" Phos shouted, alarmed.

The alloy grabbed me as Phos suddenly sprinted into the school, giving the other gems a decoy.

"We're out of here right now!"

"Hold it right there!" I heard Red Beryl shout from behind.

Turning a corner, Phos extended an arm to the ceiling, grabbed onto a pillar and pulled both me and herself up. After making sure I was grabbing on too, she retracted her arm.

"Let me squish you some more!" Dia called out, also chasing Phos.

"Let me take you apart!" Rutile said, following suit.

"Let me fix you up!" Obsidian followed.

"I haven't finished taking your measurements yet!" Red Beryl shouted.

All of them ran past, not noticing Phos and I watching from above.

Phos sighed.

"Told you they'll not be afraid anymore," I replied, smiling.

"This wasn't what I had in mind. Oh."

Looking down, I noticed that Bort was looking up at us.

"Happy with yourself now that you're stronger?" the black diamond-class gem called up.

"It's mixed," was the reply.

"I'd imagine so."

Phos leapt down, cushioning her fall with the alloy. I followed suit, but landed on my feet.

"That alloy of yours," I heard Bort say.

Looking up, I was shocked to see Bort with a slasher grin, her sword out and held above her head.

"How does it feel to slice through it?"

Phos dodged just in time. "Wait-"

"Bort!" a voice called out from the left.

"Dia!" Phos replied in relief.

"You big meanie! Let me stretch it out some more first!"

"Hold Phos down, then," was the reply from Bort.

"Okay!"

The peppermint gem's smile faded to shock as Dia leapt up, about to pounce.

With quick thinking, she grabbed me with one arm and dropped a decoy with the other, and began to run.

"Gotcha! Oh! It was a fake!"

"Run, Dan, Run!" Phos shouted as she set me down and let me move on my own. "Follow me! We need to hide!"

* * *

"Phos, those arms really are something!" Euc commented. "I'd love to measure the malleability and extendibility of them! Can I stretch them out to their limit?"

"Phos!" Alex called out. "Show me the shape of the Lunarian again! And all the rest! Go at it!"

"I'm being assaulted… by every last one of them…" Phos muttered to Sensei, hiding with me underneath the table."

Sensei looked down. "Popular as always."

I stifled a laugh.

"Ah?! Did I stutter or something? I'm asking you to tell them off for me!"

"There you are!" Neptunite called out from behind.

Phos yelped, grabbed me, hid behind Sensei and placed me on the side of Neptunite..

"Stretchy stretchy!" Dia went.

"Breaky breaky!" Rutile went next.

"Fixy fixy!" Obsidian continued.

"I still need your measurements!" Red Beryl shouted.

"Stretch!"

"Break!"

"Fix!"

"Your measurements!"

Everything went into a flurry of incomprehensible jumble.

"Enough," Sensei said, and silence arrived.

Phos sighed in relief.

"There must be order before any of you tamper with Phos."

"What?!" Phos yelped, staring at me.

"Line up first," Sensei instructed.

"Okay!" was the reaction while everyone got into a single file.

"Sorry Dan, you stay here," the peppermint gem said as they quickly ran off.

"I jest," Sensei said.

"Phos is gone," Jade replied, watching Phos run off.

"It was a joke," Sensei said again, turning around.

"Again, Phos is gone," Jade answered.

Everyone watched Phos run off.

"Well. With great power comes a sense of solitude," Sensei said.

"If that's so," Jade asked, "do you feel lonesome too, Sensei?"

"Mh?"

Sensei turned to face Jade before picking her up.

"Woah!" all the others went.

"That's a secret," Sensei replied to Jade.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Sensei, me next!"

"Oh, before that," Sensei went, putting Jade down and looking at me. "Dan"

"Y-yes?"

"There is something that everyone has tried before but failed, I would like you to do what they did."

"S-sure thing," I said, standing up, "but what is it?"

Sensei pointed at the very-familiar instrument that I had not noticed on the table.

"Try to play this. You have 3 days to figure it out."

"Alright," I replied, looking at the instrument.

I decided to feign ignorance. "What is this?"

"It's called a trumpet," Sensei explained. "None have managed to figure out to play this so far."

"Sensei," Benito asked, "you sure this is not broken? None of us managed to play it at all, after all."

"It is in pristine condition."

"Don't mind me if I asked," Jade chimed in, "but where did you get this?"

Sensei paused for a moment. "It was made on request, for the first gem I met and the senior of all of you."

Yellow Dia blinked. "Red Dia?"

"Indeed," was the reply. "Red Diamond wanted this particular instrument, so I made it for them. They are, so far, the only ones who can play this instrument."

I picked up the brass trumpet. "So, Sensei, I have 3 days to figure it out?"

"Yes."

"Don't bother, Dan," Sphene commented, "no matter what we did it just won't play."

I smiled. "I still want to try. I'll figure it out overnight."

* * *

I spent the rest of the day walking around the island, trying to find a place where nobody would hear me.

But I still don't feel safe enough.

" _Hey Nicole, want to join the band? I just signed up."_

" _Hmm, sure."_

Phos was off doing her stuff, so I'll leave her be.

Soon, the sun began to set.

I still don't feel safe.

" _Nice! We're both playing trumpets!"_

Night came.

Nobody's around.

I checked the Cave of Emptiness.

Cinn is out.

I stood on the cliff, trumpet in hand.

" _Heya Nicole, we're playing this piece that I happen to like for the upcoming performance!"_

" _Nice. What piece, though?"_

" _It's called 'Jupiter, the Harbinger of Jollity', written by Gustav Holst. Here, hear this arrangement on YouTube."_

I looked around the horizon. It was a beautiful night.

" _Nice," I commented, impressed._

" _Heheh, you like it too, don't you?"_

" _Yeah. The middle section especially."_

" _Same here, that particular part has been made into a standalone hymn called 'Thaxted'. Speaking of which, we can practice that after school at my house, how's that?"_

 _I smiled. "Yeah, that's fine."_

 _She beamed. "That's great! They're giving away these trumpets to their players so that they have space for the new ones, so a personal instrument won't be an issue."_

I looked at the moon.

 _I hope you're okay out there, wherever you are. These days, I've been thinking more and more about of you, probably because I stopped crying about myself._

 _Jane, I really miss you._

I looked down at the trumpet.

"This was your favorite instrument too," I muttered to myself. "I can never forget how to play that hymn, thanks to your guidance."

I looked back.

 _They won't hear me, the school is far enough._

I raised the trumpet.

 _Jupiter or Thaxted?_

 _Thaxted, Jupiter's way too long and won't work in a solo._

 _I think I'm a bit rusty though..._

The notes automatically came to my head as I began to play.

 _No. Not at all._

* * *

 _That felt satisfying,_ I thought as I headed back to the school.

 _We ended up earning a full round of applause for that performance, which cemented the school's idea of buying new trumpets. Jane and I were really looking forward to it._

I sighed. _What's the use when Jane isn't around?"_

"Hey! Dan!"

Looking up, I noticed the only other twin-tailed, white-haired girl in the area running towards me.

"Hey, Katsumi."

"Were you playing a trumpet? Oh, yeah, you were," Katsumi noticed.

"Yeah. What's the matter?"

"I heard you playing, that's why I ran over here."

"Ehehe, why?"

"I heard you from the _school_. Everyone else heard you playing."

Beat.

"Wait," I asked, "what?"

Katsumi grinned. "I don't know how you did it, but literally everyone heard you. How far were you?"

"I was at the cliff."

"What?! That's far!"

She thought for a moment.

"Well, there are certain occasions when sound travels much, much further than usual, but they're rare. Guess you're the lucky one."

"Dammit," I muttered. "Now what?"

"I was waiting for you to ask that! Follow me!"

* * *

"So, we've basically put the trumpet at somewhere I don't frequent that much, and now I'm pretending to be sleeping?" I asked, lying on my bed in my sleeping robes.

"That's right!" the butterfly on the ceiling replied. "Oh wait, here comes someone."

I quickly turned towards the wall and closed my eyes.

The footsteps got louder, then stopped outside my room.

"Dan?" I heard Jade ask.

The footsteps entered the room.

"Dan, are you sleeping?" Jade asked as she shook me.

I slowly rolled over and conveniently yawned while slowly opening my eyes. "H… huh?"

"Oh, you're sleeping," Jade said, looking at me, with Euc behind her. "Sorry, we thought you were playing that instrument. Where is it, anyway?"

"I don't remember…" I muttered, feigning both tiredness and ignorance. "I… I think I left it on a table somewhere."

"Oh, is that so? Well," Jade replied, turning towards Euc, "we'll go look for it then. See you in the morning, Dan."

"Yeah, see you."

"Sweet dreams," Euc wished me, smiling.

I returned the smile. "Thanks."

After the two of them left for some time, I sat up.

"Damn, that was close."

"Yeah," was the reply from Katsumi. "I didn't know you play the trumpet, by the way."

"Yeah, I never mentioned it here."

"Well, that's good to know. Hey, why not let's spar later tonight?"

"Oh, that may be a good idea."

"Great!"

* * *

"So," Katsumi asked as we got ready, "you ready?"

It's in the middle of the night now, where we're sure everyone will be asleep.

"Yeah," I replied, whipping out my butterfly knives and feeling the familiar warmth grow onto me.

Katsumi whipped out her daggers, the glowing lines on her body out.

"Alright, let's- wait!"

"Huh?"

"You know this is friendly, right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Yeah, no problem," Katsumi giggled. "Alright, let's go!"

Katsumi charged towards me.

I waited till the last moment before jumping out of the way.

"Good reflexes," she commented as she lunged towards me.

This time, I leapt to the ceiling and went downwards, preparing to strike.

Katsumi leapt out of the way, and I rolled on the ground a few times.

"Watch you landing, Dan," Katsumi advised as I got up.

"Alright, let's play in close quarters," she said as she ran.

Running towards her, we began to actually start sparring.

"You're good," Katsumi commented as she let me attack her, doing nothing but blocking and dodging.

She stopped my knives with her daggers.

"But you're not used to them at all," she continued, throwing me back.

Now she began to go all-out, and I could barely dodge and block her attacks.

A sudden idea popped up in my head, and I quickly bent down while she swung towards my chest and gave her legs a spinning sweep kick, intending to catch her off-guard.

Katsumi simply hopped over it and grabbed my leg, pulling it upwards.

"Ah!"

I fell on my back as Katsumi pointed one of her daggers at my face.

There was silence for a moment….

… which was broken with the other twintailed, white-haired girl giggling, and I followed suit.

"You think I haven't used that move before?" she cheerfully asked while putting away her daggers and offering me a hand, which I took.

"Well," I replied as I stood up, "anything's possible."

Katsumi smiled. "Well, not this one."

I picked up and kept my knives. "I really should start to sharpen myself."

"Yes you should, but on the bright side, your fundamentals are there. Hey, Phos, how long do you intend to stand there?"

Turning left, I noticed the surprised peppermint gem peeking out from behind a pillar.

"I couldn't sleep, so I was just walking around." Phos explained. "Hey, Katsu, I think you can take on Bort yourself."

Katsumi giggled. "Aw, you think so? Wait, 'Katsu'?"

The peppermint gem grinned. "Right on! Can I call you that from now on?"

"Sure! I like it!"

"Great! Oh, right, Dan."

"Yeah?"

"I'll be teaming up with Bort from tomorrow onwards, I'll apologize for not deciding with you on this. Will you do fine alone?"

Phos looked down in guilt.

"Well…" I replied, "this is sudden, but sure."

The peppermint gem looked up. "Really?"

I giggled. "Of course. But please find any other time to spend with me, or I'll not forgive you."

"I will, for sure!"

* * *

 _Thank god for this perfect memory,_ I thought as I sketched.

It's the start of a brand new day, and since I have nothing to do, I've decided to entertain myself by doing something. I couldn't figure out what that "something" would be last night, but when I woke up I realized what I really wanted to do.

I'll draw out the world map.

Behind me, Katsumi watched from the wall in her butterfly form.

"So, what is it that makes you so confident you won't get most of the map wrong?"

"Well," I replied as I "rounded" the American east coast, "I realized that we gems aren't that bad when it comes to remembering stuff. Although we lose memories when parts of us fall off, we actually have perfect photographic memory as a balance. Of course, memories from my past life are pretty much the way it is as a human, but the ones I got as a gem stuck well."

"Well, that's great, but why do you think you can get the map right?"

I thought back to last night's dream, where God flashed me a world map.

"Trust me on this, don't worry," was my reply. "Now, that's North and South America down, now for the rest…"

A few minutes later, Katsumi looked at the finished map in amazement.

"Wow, you really did get everything right! Let me guess, you saw the map in a very recent dream?"

"Well, you can say that."

Katsumi giggled, passing me back the map. "Knew it. You might want to hide it somewhere though, would be bad if anyone comes across this. Fold it up and put it inside your diary, maybe?"

She reached under the mattress and pulled out the book, passing me the key too.

"Yeah, that'll be a good idea," was my reply as I opened it up, folded the map and placed it in between the last few pages I used.

Locking the book, I passed it back to Katsumi, who helped stuff it under the mattress again.

Out of the blue, the school's bell rang.

Six times.

"Hey, Dan," the dimensional observer uttered, "what does that mean?"

"I don't know," I replied as I grabbed my sword. "I'll go take a look, alright?"

"Sure, be safe."

"I will."

* * *

I walked around, noticing an unusual air alongside the usual feeling of emptiness.

 _Something's off…_

From afar, I saw two figures running towards me. Or rather, in my direction.

One cyan gem and one peppermint gem.

"Phos!"

"Am I glad to see you!" was the reply as Phos stopped, and Alex followed suit. "Did you see a large Lunarian pass by?"

"Huh? No, what large Lunari-"

A loud crash behind interrupted me mid-sentence. Turning around, I was shocked to find something much larger than anyone of us, with two arms on is left and grasping a pillar just behind me.

"What?!" the peppermint gem blurted out as the creature turned to look at us, revealing a second eye at where its mouth should be.

 _Hey, doesn't the head resemble that of a dog, with those ears?_

"Is it just me, or does this thing look way different than a minute ago?" Phos cried out.

The "animal" jumped down and smacked both Alex and I, throwing us a good distance back.

"Ow!" "Ah!"

Getting up, I saw Phos pushing back at the creature, which had one arm on its left side.

The peppermint gem had extended the alloy in their arms, and now proceeded to try extending it from her right heel.

"My… sword…"

The alloy extended further.

"My…"

The alloy reached the sword and tied around its hilt, but little movement was seen.

"D-dangit! I don't have enough alloy left! I can't lift it! Dan, finish it!"

"Y-yes!"

Grabbing my sword, I charged towards the creature.

All it did was suddenly release the grasp of its top right arm, made Phos stumble and use that free hand to smack me. Hard.

I flew back, slamming into a pillar.

I swear I felt something crack.

I tried to push myself forward.

 _Oh, great._

"Phos, I'm stuck!"

The peppermint gem looked back for a moment.

"I can't keep this up for long!" she cried back in panic. "Alex! Do it!"

"Hm? N-no way no way no way no way no way!" was the reply as Alex looked away.

"Alex!" was the annoyed shout from the peppermint gem.

"No way no way no way no way! I'm not supposed to even look at the Lunarians, Sensei's orders!"

"You just swing and slice! It's easy! Come on!"

"But…"

"I'm begging you!"

As Phos struggled, Alex stood up.

"Fine then."

 _Is that her hair turning red?_

Alex ran forward and brutally sliced the Lunarian multiple times.

Phos was thrown back as a large amount of steam was emitted, and the now-red gem let out a boiling-red shriek of rage, surprising both me and the peppermint gem.

I turned my attention back to my current situation tried to push myself out of the pillar.

"Come on, come on!"

I suddenly shot forward, yelped, and landed face-down on the floor, being suddenly freed from the crater.

A cry from Phos made me look up at the two, as the peppermint gem dragged in four smaller Lunarians in from the window, allowing Alex to brutally cut them up.

As the steam began to clear, I stood up, brushing off the dust on my clothes.

Bort leapt onto the window as Alex sat there, looking up towards the ceiling and shaking.

"So it was red Alex," the black diamond-class gem commented, "was it?"

"You knew about this?" Phos uttered softly as I walked over to her.

"That's what happens when Alex sees Lunarians. A real nutcase, that one."

"Look who's talking."

Alex suddenly laid down, her hair becoming cyan again.

Phos stood up just as I arrived. "It's finally over…"

"We're not finished yet," Bort replied, pointing towards the small white spots beginning to move.

"You've got to be kidding…"

"Get ready for it."

Bort raised their sword.

The white spots began to form shapes…

… which turns out to be these little puppy-like things.

The closest one panted excitedly at Phos.

The three of us watched, confused.

That "puppy" sprinted over to a confused Bort, jumping onto her chest. It tried to hold on, but struggled and fell on its back on the ground.

It moved its legs, unable to roll itself back on its feet.

"... What?" I uttered in confusion.

The whole group then ran towards us, jumping on and attempting to climb us.

"I'm… not really sure I can swing a sword at these…" Phos muttered, holding up one that was crawling up her chest.

I gently grabbed the one that had crawled up to my shoulders. _Light._

Mine looked at me, its fluffy little tail wagging.

"Cute," I commented.

"Hey, Dan, look."

"Huh?"

Turning right, both of us looked at Bort, sword raised but unable to move.

"Whaddya know? I guess even Bort has a soft side."

A "puppy" climbed onto the peppermint gem's head.

I giggled. "These little things are pretty energetic, aren't they?"

Phos smiled. "Yeah, they are."

The little creatures suddenly turned around, heading towards the rest of the school.

The one in my arm squirmed, eager to follow its companions, so I released it, letting it catch up to the rest.

"They… just ran off." Phos uttered in surprise.

"That's it!" Bort shouted behind, "That was their plan!"


	23. Chapter 23

_Twenty-three_

Rutile brought up two of those little "things", showing it to both Phos and me.

"It came right up to me while I was out," she explained, looking at them. "So I tried dissecting it to pass time, but it just split in two and came back to life."

"Right…" was the muttered reply from both me and the peppermint gem.

"Not even that cute little thing could stop you, huh…" Phos continued. "You're really something."

The doctor responded by throwing one at her. "I have to attend to Dia. Go off and find the rest of these things."

"Yeah, yeah," was the reply from the peppermint gem as Rutile threw the other one at her. This time, I grabbed the little fella before it managed to run away.

It just wagged its tail at me, panting.

Just a few minutes ago, Phos had rung the bell five times, giving the signal for the other gems to move around. After that conversation with Rutile, the peppermint gem explained to the others the current situation, so everyone's now working together to catch the puppies.

Man, the whole school's in a mess.

Extending their alloy arms, the peppermint gem simultaneously grabbed four of those puppies, then retracting them back and carrying all of them under her arms. She passed one over to me.

"So," I asked, "where do we put these things?"

Phos shrugged. "I don't know, let's hold onto them for now."

The both of us looked around. Everyone was busy chasing after the puppies, which were pretty fast and agile when it comes to chasing them. Jade was chasing one, one managed to take a sharp left and evaded Neptunite, and the Amethyst sisters accidentally collided into each other while trying to chase one, just to point out a few.

"Hey, Dan."

"Hm?" I turned to look at the peppermint gem.

"There's… some things that I'm not sure whether to tell you."

"What is it?"

"... Never mind, you don't need to worry."

I frowned. "Aw come on, please?"

Phos looked down.

"Well… alright, but we'll need to go to somewhere quiet."

* * *

"Alright," I said as I sat down on my bed, "what's wrong?"

Phos sat down on the window sill. "Hey, do you know how we gems were born?"

I thought for a moment. "Chord Shore, you guys came out from that large rock, Sensei picked you guys up, gave you guys powder and clothes, then taught you guys?"

The peppermint gem chuckled, shaking her head. "It's not that simple."

"Hm?"

"We are born from that rock, yes, but it's not just applying the powder finish, giving us clothes and teach us about this world. When we're born, all of us were very rough, Sensei had to cut and trim us so that we look the way we are now. Even after that, we still had to have our quartz eyes made, with the irises made out of our own fragments that were trimmed off. After everything, we actually are smaller than what we are now, and Sensei still has to teach us how to speak."

"I see," was my reply. "Wait, didn't I practically skip everything except getting my powder finish and clothes?"

"That's exactly why I'm worried about you, Dan. The others didn't overlook this when you were born; on one morning meeting between Sensei and all of us the day after we made the promise to Cinnabar, Jade brought that up. It was only with Sensei's orders that everyone else decided not to pursue the matter. That still doesn't mean they're not suspicious though."

Phos looked at me in the eye, worried.

"Do you think you can keep it hidden?"

I looked down.

"I have to. Sensei accepted Ventrico because he considers shells to be a type of gem. I'm figuratively flesh and blood, if he knows I'll be booted out of here real quick. I really don't want that day to come, ever."

Phos raised an eyebrow. "Booted out?"

"Ah, kicked out."

"Oh," uttered the peppermint gem. "In that case, you have my backing when it comes to this. I don't want to lose you either."

She smiled. "Alright, don't we have more of those things to catch? Back to work it is!"

* * *

"101, 102, 103, 104, 105… 106… 107…"

Phos threw the remaining "puppies" into the makeshift wooden cage before slumping down, exhausted. I lay beside her on the grass, equally tired, just like everyone else.

"That's all of them, I hope…" the peppermint gem muttered to me.

"Hopefully…" was my reply, barely able to move.

"Good grief, Alex," I heard Phos say, "you sure you should be looking at those?"

"Nnnnhh, I think I can handle these, so long as I can just squint a bit… I heard there were two sunspots? I want to compile all information about its appearance."

As those two talked, I closed my eyes.

Feeling a shadow over me, I opened them again, thinking it was just Phos standing over me.

It was not.

"Woah!" I shouted, jumping up and looking at the massive Lunarian.

"... something like that," I heard Phos finish right before everyone began to scream.

The massive seven-eyed creature looked at us.

"WOOF!"

It inched closer to us.

"Did it just…" Phos muttered, "bark?"

The creature raised and slammed a hand into the ground, throwing all of us back.

"Alex!" the peppermint shouted beside me. "Time to bring out the other you agai-"

The two of us looked at the cyan gem, who had fainted on the spot.

"Not like that…" Phos muttered.

"That's gone Alex," Yellow Dia commented.

"Quick, Dan! Follow me!" Phos shouted as she grabbed me, dragging me behind a pillar and hiding there.

"W-what the hell is that?!" I cried.

"That's the full size of that Lunarian!"

A massive slam abruptly came, surprising the both of us.

Peeking out, I saw Jade stuck under one of the Lunarian's hands, with Obsidian being held upside-down on one hand on the other side.

The blacksmith began to cry in fear. "You creep!"

"Jade!" Euc shouted as she tried to drag her partner out from the creature's clutches. "Hang in there!"

I turned around, looking at Phos. "What now?"

The peppermint gem thought for a moment and smirked lightly. "I have a plan."

Extending out her right arm, Phos made a humanoid decoy out of the alloy in front of the unsuspecting Lunarian, who was preoccupied with Obsidian.

"Halt!" the peppermint gem yelled out in a different voice.

The creature turned towards the decoy, which somewhat resembles a messy-haired Cinnabar.

"I am the one you want!" Phos continued.

All the other gems stared at the decoy in confusion.

"Who's that?" I heard Zircon ask.

"Show me what you got!" my peppermint senior went on, further taunting the Lunarian.

The creature tossed Obsidian aside, lifted its hand from Jade and attempted to punch the decoy, but Phos moved it back just in time. Now interested in the new "gem", the Lunarian followed the alloy as it moved back.

"Yes, yes yes yes," Phos muttered while I peeked out from behind her, "Just keep on heading this way. I'll lead you right to Sensei and- WOAH!"

The creature grabbed the decoy with its tail and yanked, sending me and the peppermint gem flying out towards it.

"Maybe not!" Phos yelled in surprise.

My hand slipped while we were still airborne, sending me flying towards a pillar.

The Lunarian stared at Phos as the peppermint gem slipped into its fur.

 _Oh no._

"Phos!" the Amethyst twins called out.

Trying to get out, I realized that I was stuck. Again.

 _Oh, joy._

The creature turned towards the other gems.

Obsidian began crying again. "Phos!"

"Phos…" Jade uttered, "not again!"

"What are we going to do?" I heard Yellow Dia ask.

"Slice it up again and segregate all its parts," was the reply from Bort. "There's nothing else we can do…"

I heard someone step onto the grass. Looking down on my left, I realized that it was Sensei, who looked surprised at the scene.

The Lunarian turned towards him.

Both of them stared at each other.

The creature's eyes widened and it sprinted towards Sensei.

"Sensei!" a few gems shouted.

He swiped his right hand to his side, seemingly telling them to stay back.

As the Lunarian got closer, Sensei put out his hand.

The creature raised its right hand…

… and placed it on Sensei's. Like a pet dog with its owner.

"Sit."

The Lunarian listened and sat down. Like a pet dog.

"Lay down."

It did just that. Like a pet dog.

"Chin."

It also followed and allowed Sensei to stroke its chin.

 _Like a pet dog._

"Hm?" Sensei noticed, looking at the Lunarian's first left hand as Phos climbed out of the tail's fur. "Poor Shiro, what happened to your hand?"

The creature didn't respond, moving to lay on its back instead.

Sensei stroke its belly as it sighed.

 _That looks… pretty cute._

"Sensei…" Phos called out, managing to climb out of the tail.

He turned to look at the peppermint gem. "I didn't see you there."

"Right… So, why did you call this thing 'Shir-' woah!"

Everyone stepped back as the creature got up and ran a few circles before sitting down again, facing Sensei.

 _Just like a pet dog!_

Phos fell out of the tail, shaking and trying to get out.

"Sensei…" I called out.

He looked up. "I didn't notice you there either."

"Sensei… I'm stuck."

* * *

As everyone else worked to repair the damaged places and items in the school, Phos and I stood in front of Sensei, after I was freed by the peppermint gem.

"Sensei," Phos began, "do you know this thing?"

He kept his eyes closed. "No. Not at all."

The peppermint gem frowned. "Are you telling me I just mistakenly heard you call it 'Shiro' then-"

Sensei began to nod off.

"Sensei! Don't doze off on me!"

He quickly woke back up.

"Apologies. The fluffiness is just so inviting. It's magnificent. Magnificently fluffy."

Phos sighed.

"Is the thing's name really that big of a deal?" Jade asked, walking up.

'No, that's not really the point…" was the reply from the peppermint gem.

"Why not ask it yourself?" Rutile asked, walking up as well.

"Eh?"

"You and Dan were able to speak to that slug, after all."

Phos thought about it for a moment, turning to look at me.

I shrugged. "Anything you say."

* * *

Yep, we're asking the "dog".

"Uh…" Phos began.

The Lunarian opened its eyes.

"It's just… if I might just inquire something from you…" she continued.

"Truly a lost cause, that one," I heard Rutile comment quietly.

The creature woofed in response.

"It just said 'woof, woof'..." the peppermint gem said, looking at both Rutile and Jade.

I placed a hand on the Lunarian's nose. That didn't seem to bother it, since it closed its eyes.

* * *

"'Poor Shiro, what happened to your hand?' I definitely heard Sensei say that," Phos muttered as we walked on the plains. "Mmm, maybe I'm just overthinking the whole thing…"

I walked silently beside her.

"The way it was said, though."

The peppermint gem stopped.

"It sounded like the two of them were so much closer than any of us. Sensei and a Lunarian…"

Phos gasped as the wind blew, turning to look at me.

"Have I just allowed myself to imagine the unthinkable?"

"What's 'unthinkable'?" I puzzled.

"Sensei and the Lunarians, working together…"

"Woah, Phos, slow down. Is there any real reason for your conclusion?"

The peppermint gem looked down and pondered for a while.

"Nope, not at all. Still, the way he said it…"

"Hey, Phos, do you know what a 'dog' is?"

She looked up. "What's that?"

"An animal. Four legs, a tail, and barks. People own them as pets back in the day, they're known to be very loyal to their owners. Shiro acts like one," I noted.

"Interesting. So you're saying that Sensei kept one a long time ago?"

"Something like that. Also, I think," I suggested, 'the real question would be 'who exactly _are_ the Lunarians?' If Sensei really had that dog back then, why does that Lunarian supposedly act like it, and shares the same name too?"

Our discussion was interrupted by increasingly-louder barks. Turning around, both Phos and I noticed Cinnabar approaching, holding a pair of shoes and having one of those puppies trying to climb her.

The mercury gem stopped and looked at us.

"Here," she suddenly said, throwing the shoes at Phos, who barely caught it. "This must be Bort's. This thing too," she added, throwing the puppy, which smacked the peppermint gem in the face, making her fall backwards.

"This isn't Bort's," Phos replied, holding the little creature.

"Well, then what is it exactly?" Cinn asked. "It was right there with those shoes."

"This is a piece of the Lunarian that showed up today," the peppermint gem replied, looking at the puppy. "And as far as I can tell… it belongs to Sensei."

She stood up, letting go of the creature.

"Cinnabar, I'm starting to feel like Sensei is hiding something from us."

"You mean in relation to the Lunarians?"

Phos and I were taken aback, surprised.

"You knew?!" the peppermint gem shouted. "Then why-"

"Everybody knows."

"What?" I blurted out.

Cinn turned back.

"Well," she continued, "everyone has come to guess as much. But no one knows the truth."

I heard the puppy yelp as it played with something. _Probably the shoes._

"They've all made an unspoken agreement to trust in Sensei no matter what the truth may be," the mercury red gem finished, turning their head around.

There was a brief silence, only filled with the panting of the puppy.

"Even you?" Phos asked.

"I'm still debating it. What are you going to do?"

Cinnabar just turned back and walked off, without waiting for an answer.

The wind blew again.

Turning right, I noticed Phos staring straight ahead, visibly shocked.

"Phos?"

She slowly turned her head to look at me.

"I…"

Small cracks began to form on her face.

"I just…"

The cracks grew much larger than they were.

"I want to know the truth. It's going to take courage to confront Sensei about this. Courage… I don't have courage…"

I instinctively hugged Phos. "Calm down, I'm here with you, always. We'll uncover the truth together, alright?"

I felt her arms embrace me.

"Thank you, Dan. You're the best."

Hearing the rustling of grass, I looked behind Phos, noticing the "puppy" running back to the school.

"Hey, Phos…"

The peppermint gem turned around and sighed.

"Oi…" she called out as we began to head back. "C'mon, wait..."

* * *

We walked down the empty main corridor of the school, following the excited puppy that was running around.

"Hey, Phos."

"Huh?"

"Let's go to my room after this, alright?" I asked.

"Sure."

Heading towards Shiro and everyone else, both of us noticed all the other gems curled up in the Lunarian's fur, asleep. Sensei was "meditating" beside the creature, while Shiro itself is asleep, lying in a way a pet dog would.

The puppy ran up excitedly to Shiro.

It yelped once and jumped into the arm with the missing hand, fusing with it and regenerating as the new hand, completing the creature's full form.

Looking beside me, I noted Phos staring at the sleeping Kongo-sensei.

She watched in silence for a few moments.

"Sen-" she wanted to ask as she stepped forward, before I quickly pulled her back.

"Not now," I whispered. "We're doing this without anyone knowing."

The peppermint gem nodded silently in acknowledgement.

Hearing rustling, we both turned forward and noticing Shiro get out.

Looking at us, it noted our existence before crawling over to Sensei and curling around him.

Sensei turned and placed a hand on the Lunarian's face.

The creature opened it eyes briefly before closing it again, beginning to glow and disappear as vapor.

"Returning home to the moon, is it?" Phos asked.

"No," was the reply. "It would seem that it has found peace."

Through the mist, I could make out the figure of a small dog resting on Sensei's leg, his hand over its head.

Even that shape disappeared, and only a small drop-like figure remained, floating downwards.

As it reached Sensei, like a dog's tongue, it licked his hand while emitting a small purr before disappearing completely.

The light faded away.

Sensei turned his attention to Phos. "How was it like working alongside Bort?"

"R-right…" Phos said, caught off-guard. "Bort is far wiser and more prudent than I imagined. Above all else, it is that quick-wittedness and precision that we could all stand to learn from. I believe each of us should team up with Bort at least once."

"Hm. And what will you do?"

The peppermint gem briefly turned to look at me, smiling softly. "Dan and I have matters we wish to pursue on our own. About these Lunarians."

* * *

"So," Katsumi clarified, "you want to find out more about the Lunarians by asking them?"

Phos nodded.

"Well, that's pretty okay, if you ask me."

The peppermint gem blinked.

"That's all?"

"Yeah, what else did you want from me?" the dimensional observer grinned.

"I was expecting something like 'That's crazy, don't do it!' actually…"

"Well," Katsumi replied, slouching back on my bed, "how exactly do you want to ask them?"

Phos thought for a moment and shrugged.

"Just ask them?"

"Or," I suddenly thought up, "why not go to the moon and get the answers straight from them? Could save our seniors too."

Phos and Katsumi stared at me, surprised.

I gulped (or the gem equivalent of that). "W-what did I say wrong?"

"That's actually possible," Katsumi uttered.

"Yes," the peppermint gem agreed as she grinned and hugged me. "Dan, you're the best!"

I blushed. "I-I didn't do anything…"

"Oh, by the way," Phos went on, releasing her grasp on me, "I'm sick of this hairstyle. I'm going to try growing my alloy out."

Katsumi and I watched as the peppermint gem shut her eyes and began to concentrate.

Slowly but surely, the alloy seeped out of their hair, extending to form Phos' old hairstyle.

She opened her eyes. "So, is my old hairstyle back again?"

Katsumi smiled. "Sure is, looks even better with that gold finish!"

"Yep, looks much better," I agreed as I smiled too. "Though, wouldn't Red Beryl be pretty mad when she sees you tomorrow? 'How could you do this?!', I can already hear it in my head."

"Bah, don't worry about that, my little kouhai," the peppermint shrugged off. "That's probably not going to happen, I'm sure."

* * *

"How could you do this?! I took your image yesterday and got your measurements, and you changed your hairstyle like that again?!" the tailor cried out as she shook Phos violently.

 _Famous last words._


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey, author here, sorry for the delay.**

 _Twenty-four_

I watched Phos stare silently at the blue sky from behind.

It has been a few days since that day, and during this time I had made my preparations in anticipation of a sudden trip to the moon. For one, I've entrusted the key of my diary to Katsumi for her to look after. Whether she'd eventually give it to Sensei and the other gems or hide it somewhere is up to her from now on; personally, I really don't feel like keeping the secret anymore, even though I have to.

Also, I've set aside my spring uniform and decided to wear the "regular" summer uniform, since it looks more formal and fitting on the moon, at least to me. I've made it a point to bring along both my sword and my two balisong knives, the latter just in case the situation calls for it.

Back to the present. A yellow butterfly landed on the peppermint gem's nose.

More gradually landed on Phos over hear head and body, and even some decided to rest on my shoulders too.

 _Funny, I used to be afraid of insects. Now they don't bother me anymore._

 _Still, no cockroaches. Creepy._

"How long has it been now?" I heard the peppermint gem mutter.

"Ten days," an unexpected but familiar voice replied behind.

Turning around and prompting the butterflies to fly off, both Phos and I looked at the doctor, who was holding a bowl.

"Hey doc," I greeted softly.

"You've got sharp ears," Phos commented with a small smile.

"You're pushing yourself too hard," was the reply as Rutile came up.

"It's funny; the more you wait for the Lunarians, the less they show up."

"The last one was spectacular," the doctor explained as she stood beside the peppermint gem on the left, "so we might assume something is happening on their end."

"How is Dia?" Phos asked, changing the subject.

"We found the last fragments this morning, and now Dia is quite back to normal. They were upset that they never saw the small fluffy versions, though. Fortunately, Red Beryl put together these little replicas of the thing for DIa, and everyone has been playing with them. Even Alex, too."

"Yeah? That's good."

"Dan," Rutile turned back to look at me, "you're not in your spring uniform. Is it torn?"

"N-no, I just felt like switching around my clothes," I replied nervously. "Don't want to keep wearing the spring uniform till summer comes, plus this uniform's getting dusty."

"I see," was the reply from the doctor, seemingly buying the explanation. "Well, make sure you two drop in for a checkup."

Rutile began to walk away.

"Are you headed somewhere?" Phos asked.

"Chord Shore."

"Oh," the peppermint gem muttered to themselves, "looking for parts for Padparadscha, I take it… I guess I haven't forgotten about them. That's a relief."

"Who's Pad… Padrapa…?" I asked, puzzled and struggling to catch the name.

The peppermint gem turned to me, giggling at my stumbling. "Padparadscha. Was so cool, practically knew everything. They once fought alongside Rutile."

"Really?"

"Yeah. A hardness of nine. A toughness just under first class. The second strongest after Bort. Just about as old as Yellow."

"Wow," I replied, amazed. "What happened to her-them?"

"Well, they were born with a number of holes. Rutile modified their body and kept Padparadscha going; it's how Rutile got to be such a skilled doctor. But as of late, there's been no movement."

Phos turned back to face the sky again, smiling.

"You should meet Padparadscha someday, Dan. They're amazing."

* * *

"Okay, so it was probably around here somewhere," Phos muttered, digging into the sand as I watched.

It has been a day, and the peppermint gem thought that the red small piece of gem we encountered during winter could be of some use to Rutile for Padparadscha. So, here we are at the Chord Shore with the doctor, trying to find that piece.

"Ah, here it is," she said, brushing off the sand to reveal the red piece.

Rutile bent down, inspecting it.

"I found it during the winter and just sort of buried it there," Phos explained as a smile lit up on the doctor's face.

"It's all ruby," Rutile replied. "This will help. It has a hardness of nine and is a similar type to Padparadscha."

She looked down at the piece of ruby. "This should allow a better chance of awakening and retaining consciousness longer."

* * *

Later on, Phos and I watched as Rutile carefully fitted in the cut pieces of ruby into Padparadscha, each piece meticulously made to be an exact fit into their respective holes.

"Dan, did you manage to play that instrument?" the doctor asked out of the blue.

"H-huh? No, I didn't, returned it to Sensei a few days ago."

" _It's no good, Sensei," I said as I handed the trumpet over to him. "No matter what I did, nothing came out of it."_

 _Sensei looked down at me._

 _I felt myself sweat._

" _Very well," was the reply._

" _Sensei," I asked curiously, "how did Red Dia manage to play this?"_

 _He simply put a hand on my head. "It's a secret I promised to keep."_

" _A-ah, okay…"_

"So, who was playing that thing at night some time back?" Rutile asked as I returned to the present.

I shrugged. "Beats me, I was asleep. Jade and Euc came to look for me in my room, too."

Rutile pondered for a bit. "Hmm."

She went back to putting the pieces of ruby into Pad.

"It's you, wasn't it?" Phos whispered, smirking.

I was surprised, but I gave a small smile and quietly nodded.

"Promise I won't tell anyone," was the reply before the peppermint gem went back to looking at Rutile work.

"The more I work on this, the harder it becomes the next time around," the doctor muttered suddenly.

She went on, and soon the last hole in Pad was filled up with ruby.

We watched together.

No movement.

Then the gem in the box opened her eyes.

We moved in closer.

She suddenly set up, scaring Phos a bit, and yawned.

"Hm?"

Pad giggled.

"Well, well. Would you look at how speckled I am now."

"Padparadscha," Rutile asked, "how do you feel?"

"Fantastic!" was the reply. "How long has it been?"

"231 years, 11 months and one day."

"Well, that's a stunning record."

"I operated on you 300,300 times…"

"Well I'll be!" Pad replied in awe.

Rutile put her head down. "It was all because I'm such a failure."

"Or because I've just got no luck," Pad replied, smirking.

"No! If I can't even fix the misfortune that has befallen you, what good does my practice serve?!"

The pink gem just giggled.

She suddenly looked up.

"A new gem?" she asked, looking at Phos, surprising the peppermint gem.

"Oh!" she corrected herself while climbing out of the box and sitting on the side seats. "You're the little pebble always hiding out behind Sensei, aren't you?"

Phos just smiled and looked away sheepishly.

"You seem...different," Pad commented.

"A lot has happened," was the reply from the peppermint gem.

"Are those arms some kind of alloy?" the pink gem asked as they held up Phos' left hand. "You're just like me, then. You poor thing."

Pad put a hand on Phos' head. "You've been through quite a bit, haven't you?"

The peppermint gem seemed stunned at first, before blushing and looking away again, smiling.

The pink gem giggled. "So someone's a little shy here, isn't it?"

"Ehehe…" Phos uttered, twirling a strand of the golden bottom portion of her hair.

"Now you," Pad said, turning their attention over to me, "you're a new face for sure. What's your name?"

"I-it's Danburite," I replied, nervous. "Y-you can call me Dan, if you w-want."

She chuckled. "Now this one's more timid. I don't bite, do I?"

"N-no, you don't…"

"Heheh, this one's going to be fun to be with. How old are you?"

"Less than a year…"

"Oh, and this big already?"

"It's a weird story," Phos quickly came in for the save. "They found themselves near the cave, not like the other of us from the Chord Shore. Also came in pretty ready except for the powder finish and clothes."

"Unusual indeed," Pad replied, pondering. "But it really doesn't matter, does it? I see that Phos has taken on the senior role for the newbie, right?"

Both Phos and I nodded simultaneously.

"Heheh, you two make a good pair."

Phos looked at me, smiling. "Yeah, we do. Oh, Padparadscha…"

"Yes?"

"There's something we want to ask you."

The pink gem looked at us, interested, before turning around. "Rutile, am I good to head out?"

The doctor had already passed out, lying unconscious on the floor.

"Oh."

* * *

After setting Rutile on a table, the three of us headed off to the plains.

Pad stretched while holding her sword, making a sound of contention. "Best time of the year!"

"Yep," Phos replied, a huge smile on her face as she almost skipped along.

"You've been sleeping all right?" Pad asked.

"Never better," the peppermint gem replied, beaming.

"You two been listening to Sensei?" the pink gem went on.

"Eheh, maybe not…" Phos replied sheepishly.

"Same," I confirmed.

"Two little troublemakers, huh…" Pad commented.

Phos and I looked at each other, smirking. "Perhaps."

Pad chucked out loud.

"Ah, Padparadscha," Phos abruptly said, "We want to go to the moon. To talk to a Lunarian."

The pink gem stopped and turned around curiously.

"We want to try and figure out the truth ourselves," Phos explained. "Do you think that makes us troublemakers, too?"

Pad sighed and set her sword on the ground.

"Interesting plan," she began. "Now, see. I want Rutile to give up on this puzzle of mine."

She smiled. "I want to take that burden off the table. But what sort of reaction would that provoke?"

A dark cloud just happened to pass over us.

"A pure, unbridled truth might leave its own wounds," Pad went on. "And it might change things in ways you've never imagined."

There was a short pause.

"So make sure you keep your composure," she concluded. "And be mindful of your actions."

"Yeah," Phos replied, in her serious mood.

"Got it," I answered.

Pad just fell to the ground, unconscious, as the cloud moved away.

The both of us went over to her side, surprised and unsure of what to do.

"Well," I commented, "that was short."

"Indeed," Phos agreed.

"But rather meaningful."

"Indeed."

"Did you ask what you needed to ask?" Rutile queried from not far behind.

The peppermint gem turned to look at me before looking back at Pad.

"We only got to talk about the weather," she lied.

I heard the doctor open up some kind of cloth.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

* * *

I walked along the empty corridors slowly, alone.

After leaving Phos alone while she went back to ponder, I decided to take the time to look around the school properly for once. In case I never make it back.

 _I've never noticed how big the school really is until now…_

I sighed.

"Oh, Dan!"

Turning around, I noticed Red Beryl running up towards me.

"Hey there," I replied, putting on a smile. "What is it?"

"Here, stay still," the tailor cheerfully replied, reaching for my twintails and taking off my hairbands.

"E-ehh?!"

"Relax, relax," she soothed as she took out two black pieces of cloth, retying my twintails using a ribbon for each.

"There!" the red gem declared proudly, standing back to look at me and showing me a ribbon. "See, you look cuter with these ribbons! Don't worry, you can tie them up easily!"

"T-thanks…" I replied shyly as I looked at my new ribbons.

"Yep, that's it from me! See ya!"

Waving back at me, Red Beryl ran off, probably back to work on her new designs.

I touched the ribbons.

 _Not bad._

 _Seeing how everyone's so good to me though…_

… _will they take it well if I go to the moon?_

I sighed.

* * *

"I really don't know what to do…" I muttered, lying on my bed and facing the wall.

"Well," Katsumi suggested from the ceiling, "you can back out, nobody's really going to blame you."

"That's the problem," I sighed, turning over. "I don't want to back out of this."

The orange butterfly reverted to her human form and bent down beside me.

"You're worried about not being able to come back."

"Yep."

"You're afraid of letting Phos go alone and bearing the guilt if she never returns."

"You can say that."

The dimensional traveller giggled. "Then go, no worries! I know you'll find a way back; you probably always do."

I looked at her. "How so?"

"Remember that time you told me you were depressed in your past life?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't you see that you're probably way better now?"

I thought about it for a moment, surprised. "I didn't pay anything attention to myself, but you're… right. I am leagues better than I was back then."

Katsumi smiled. "See? Just believe in yourself, you'll be fine!"

I smiled. "Yeah, thanks."

* * *

The next day was pretty uneventful. I guess there's really not much to talk about on usual days like these, it's more or less the same peaceful day all over again.

 _I like it._

Though, that changed a bit when Phos came to look for me in the evening and invited me to go learn more about the Lunarians from Alex. Of course, I agreed.

"Alex!" the peppermint gem called out.

The Lunarian expert turned around, revealing that they had been carrying a large stack of books and paper, along with Yellow Dia, who was walking beside her and also carrying her own stack.

"Are you busy?" Phos continued as we approached the two of them.

"A bit, yeah," was the reply from Alex. "We're airing out the documents from the library. Are you in a rush?"

"We want to re-study all about the Lunarians. Down to every last possible detail. Learn for the first time in Dan's case. Think you can teach us?"

"Hmm…"

The cyan gem suddenly threw her entire stack up in the air.

"Hey! Where do you want to start? Come on, where?!"

"You idiot!" Yellow Dia chided. "That's the source copy of our texts!"

* * *

Phos grabbed one of the pieces that was floating down, her arms branched out to hold multiple pieces of paper.

Alex and Yellow Dia had requested us to retrieve the stack the former had threw up in the air, some of which were unfortunately already caught by the wind and blown away by the time the both of us got going. This piece of paper that we've finally found was still in the air all the way at the plains, for one, but we've retrieved most of the pages nonetheless.

"Geological Structures, Part One," she read out aloud as I looked from the side, carrying the newly-reassembled stack.

The peppermint stared at it for a few moments.

"Eheh, I don't remember any of this!" she brushed off cheerfully. "I'm sure taught me all of this before, but…"

"Erosion rates along the shore…" I read as Phos branched her left arm out again to grab another flying page. "Changes in clouds and air pressure… This looks pretty boring, typical of geography.

"Yeah, it is," she muttered with an annoyed look as another page landed on her head, covering half her vision. "Hey, Dan, can you spare a hand to get this off my face?"

"Sorry, hands are seriously full right now. Can't you extend your alloy again?"

"I can't see where it is going now, though. Eh, might as well reassemble them again."

Phos retracted all her branch-like extensions and recombined them into her arms, bringing the multiple pieces of paper together.

Now with her left hand free, the peppermint gem took away the page on her face and placed all the pieces she was holding onto my stack, before taking away the top half of it.

"Ah, Dan, Sensei didn't call you for lessons with him? I mean, everyone here has gone through with that, are you the odd one out?"

"Nope, he never spoke to me specifically for that. I wonder why?"

Phos grinned. "Maybe he thinks you're smart enough to figure everything out yourself, aren't you?"

"E-eh? No, I'm just average when it comes to intelligence, I only have prior knowledge from my past to aid me!"

The peppermint gem giggled. "Sometimes you really underestimate yourself too much. Now, let's go back to the scho- oh, another page there!"

* * *

"Alex, we found all the pages," Phos muttered tiredly as the both of us trudged into Alex's room.

Looking up, we noticed Alex in Sensei-like robes, staring at us sternly while sitting on the floor. Around her are many tall stacks of books and papers, most likely about the Lunarians.

"Alex?" Phos asked, puzzled at the cyan gem's choice of clothing.

'First question!" was the reply. "What type of Lunarian appeared 109 years ago on the second day of the fifth month? Official names only."

"Are you kidding me? So this is all going to be done like a trivia game?"

"I thought it might be more fun this way," the Lunarian expert explained, standing up.

"May work," the peppermint gem thought. "Yeah, let's go with it! But we'll have to read something first, Dan doesn't know and I forgot everything."

Alex just plopped a full stack of books onto the table. "Then here."

 _Damn._

"You will be tested on all of this," she went on as Phos and I sat down.

"A test…" the peppermint gem sighed. "How terrible."

"I don't think I can absorb any of these now…" I muttered.

"The test will be carried out trivia style," the cyan gem finished.

"So basically," Phos replied, "you just want to do some trivia."

She thought about it for a bit.

"Well, that can be fun," she said, a smile forming on her face. "But the studying though…" she sighed as she looked at the stack of books.

"Hey," I noticed for the first time, "is that Yellow DIa sleeping behind?"

"Yeah," Alex answered.

"Yep," was Phos' reply.

* * *

"Dan, stay with me," Phos shook me out of my verge of dozing off.

"H-huh? Yeah, sorry," I groggily replied, forcing myself to wake up.

"That's the spirit! Anyway, next question," Phos prodded on enthusiastically. "Out of all the old type Lunarians of level 5 sheen, which had the 12th fewest vessels?"

"The su…" Alex replied tiredly, lying on the table, "no… the elliptical streamlined elevated high-rise form."

"Bingo! Impressive."

"Look who's talking. Picking through random statistics from last month to determine their rank like that…"

"It all comes naturally when I put my effort into it, Alex-sensei."

"Yeah? Glad to hear."

There was a bit of silence for a while.

The peppermint gem looked at me, her eyebrows raised.

"Huh?" I muttered.

She just shrugged, smirking.

"Alex-sensei…"

"Hmm?"

"Do… you think it's possible to talk to the Lunarians?"

"We don't have insight to their language," was the reply from a tired Alex. "We only have such brief moments of contact that we just don't have enough information."

Phos' eyebrows furrowed in slight frustration for a second.

"Alex," I decided to ask, "do you like the Lunarians?"

"Not at all, Dan."

I looked at them in surprise. "Why do you seem obsessed over them, then?"

"My research is an attempt to overcome my condition. And because…"

The cyan gem paused for a moment.

"Not long before Phos was born, they stole Chrysoberyl from me. That's why I spent every day thinking about the Lunarians. So that I never forget the fresh feeling of hatred I have for them."

"To the point of obsession?"

"To the point of obsession."

* * *

"Alex should really stop fussing over the Lunarians so much," I said to Phos as we walked on the grasslands, sunlight visible but the sun not yet risen. "It's bad for her, I'm sure. I mean, _them._ "

"Yeah," was the reply. "'Fresh', huh…"

A sudden dark patch in the sky ahead of us caught our attention quickly.

I looked at Phos. "Is it time we go?"

Phos hesitated for a bit. "Guess so."

We looked back at the school.

"Let's hope we come back in one piece," I muttered.

"Yeah."

We faced the appearing Lunarians and unsheathed our swords, the sun finally rising.

"So," I asked, "what do we do now?"

"Follow me behind," was the reply from the peppermint gem as she unleashed the alloy, blocking the both of us from the volleys of arrows while we rushed forward.

"When I say jump, you jump!" Phos shouted out so that I can hear her over the instruments the Lunarians were playing.

"Okay!" was my reply.

"It's time now! Jump!"

Leaping together, we ended up somewhere at the center of the cloud.

The Lunarians around us aimed their arrows.

"Um…" the peppermint gem began, "can we talk for a bit?"

The bows were lowered.

The Lunarians began looking at each other and making odd noises, as if they were talking.

I watched in puzzlement.

Suddenly, all of them stopped "talking" and simultaneously fired their arrows at us. Phos quickly leapt up and grabbed me along, barely missing the volley.

"Well, you could have just said no!" the peppermint gem shouted, annoyed. "Dan, do you have any ideas?"

"I have one right now!" I replied, an idea suddenly forming in my head.

Grabbing a surprised Phos, I threw her into the Lunarians' bowl and raised my sword.

"You traitor! How could you?!"

"What?!"

I swung my sword down hard, but not hard enough to break Phos. Just enough to cause a bit of damage, I was aiming for.

It went through halfway into Phos, while the rest of their body cracked.

"You idiot!" I shouted, feigning shock. "Why didn't you dodge?!"

Grabbing the peppermint gem, still surprised, I pretended to try carrying her out of danger.

"Play along," I whispered into her left ear, "I'm trying to make a convincing act down here."

Phos got the idea. "Dan, put me down! Save yourself!"

"No! I don't want to lose you! You're coming with me!"

Hearing an arrow heading directly straight at me, I dodged out of the way…

… and got my own sword straight to my torso.

Phos quickly pulled it out and pulled me down into the bowl as she pretend to fall inside too, motionless.

I slumped back into the bowl, my head facing in the direction of the school.

"We're even," the peppermint gem whispered. "Now, don't move."

"How was my acting?" I whispered back as I felt the cloud begin to move away..

"You could have warned me, but that's really convincing," was the reply.

"Eheh, sorry. Spur of the moment."

As the island got further and the black spot began covering the cloud, the both of us noticed a few moving figures running towards us.

Bort. Dia. Cinnabar.

Then the darkness fully covered us.

The Lunarians began to come over to us as the large Lunarian lowered the bowl.

"Don't. Move," Phos whispered.

"Gotcha."

The Lunarians touched our bodies. I mean, _really_ touched.

They checked my legs.

They felt up my torso.

One of them _put a finger in my mouth._

But I held still.

I dared not make any noise.

* * *

 _How long has it been?_

The Lunarians had long stopped checking us, and are now back to standing at attention.

"How long is this gonna take?" the peppermint gem asked in a whisper.

"Hopefully not for long," I replied softly. "Hey, Phos, what do we do after we reach the moon?"

She thought for a moment. "We just get up and attack. Which would be harder, considering the both of us had already cracked pretty badly and lost some of our shards."

We looked down at the bottom of the bowl, little fragments from both of us having collected there.

Out of the blue, the dark sphere began to open up.

Ahead was a straight wide path heading straight to the horizon, something like a freeway minus the road. A very wide bridge, perhaps. I could make out a few structures below the bridge, each having different shapes but strangely enough no circular ones.

Further to the side was a rocky terrain under a completely dark sky.

 _Yep, this is the moon._

As the cloud "landed" on the edge of the platform, all the Lunarians around reached for their heads, pulling out their hair bands.

"Phew!" I heard most of them sigh and speak for the first time.

Just a few moments later, all of them broke formation and began to get the attention of the other Lunarians on the moon, some of them holding brooms.

"Hey, hey!" the lead Lunarian shouted out to the others on the moon as the cloud dissipated and everyone now stood on the platform, the others also calling for attention. "Look here! We've struck it today! Here!"

She threw something at another Lunarian, who seemed to grab it and looked at her palm.

"Wow! This is phosphophyllite?"

"Yes!" another one replied cheerfully.

"Aren't they rare?"

"Right on!" another one replied as our bowl was lowered down by the large Lunarian. "What's more, we've got a full piece!"

"Amazing!"

The rest of the Lunarians had different behaviors. Some were cheering and talking to each other excitedly about their latest catch, some of them tiredly walked away, others just sat down and rested.

"Looks pretty lively, don't you think?" I whispered to Phos.

"Seems like it."

Turning my eyes to look at her, Phos smirked.

"Say, why not crash their party?"

I smirked back. "I've got this."

I grabbed my sword and began to get up, the Lunarians not noticing my actions.

"The hands - are they gold? What do we do with them?" I heard one say.

"Should we leave them with the rest?" another asked in reply. "We better ask -"

"Hey! That's one's moving!" someone shouted from the side.

Everyone turned to face me, shocked.

"Heheh," I called out as I began to climb out of the bowl. "Surprise, motherfu-"

I tripped and fell facedown onto the ground.

"Augh!" I heard the Lunarians grimace.

I swear I could feel more cracks forming.

"Ow…" I muttered as I covered my face.

"Good one, Dan!" I heard Phos comment and felt her stifle her laughter. "There goes your first impression!

Getting up, the peppermint gem leapt off the bowl and landed in front of me.

"Alright," she said as I held up my sword. "Let's dance."


	25. Chapter 25

_Twenty-five_

"Dan! Stay close to me!"

"A-alright!" I replied, hiding behind the peppermint gem's back as she slashed the Lunarians by the dozen, moving forward as they did so.

 _Damn, I'm really not doing anything here..._

Some time had passed considerably as we approached the end of the "bridge", covered by the mist from the destroyed Lunarians.

Ahead of us was a rectangular building spanning at least 50 meters. On the steps leading up to the entrance, a few Lunarians noticed us.

"You've got to be kidding!" I heard one shout as all of them rushed towards us.

With a swift slam from her alloy, Phos took down most of them at once. The others were dealt with by her sword once they got close.

Only one Lunarian remained at the entrance.

Except this one looks different.

That looks… like a man?

"Let me take him with you," I said, stepping out from behind the peppermint gem and holding out my sword.

"Okay," was the short, quiet reply I received.

We stared at him.

He stared back.

"Wow," he began. "Impressive. Welcome to-"

"Do me a favor and shut up!" Phos interrupted, leaping forward and slashing the Lunarian in half.

As Phos went through the entrance of the building, that Lunarian quickly regenerated himself, as if nothing had happened.

"... to the moon," he finished.

It was my turn to rush up, and I did the same as Phos.

Turning back, to my horror, he regenerated.

I sliced him again.

He went back.

Again.

Same thing happened.

I raised my sword one more time…

… but was kicked back by another Lunarian who appeared, sending me the way Phos went.

I hit the ground and skidded for a bit.

 _I bet there's more deeper cracks from that._

"Dan!" Phos shouted, grabbing me and helping me up.

"Hey…" I asked, looking around, "what is this place?"

Around me, colorful dust covered the surface of the moon (I know it was the surface of the moon because there were no more buildings around).

"I see that you two are quite the energetic pair," the male Lunarian commented as he stood at the "doorway", behind a massive plank.

A Lunarian, probably the one that kicked me, whispered into the male Lunarian's ear.

"Ah, they're angry because they heard us speak?"

"Not really," Phos replied rudely, "we're mad for all our fellow gem siblings that _you've_ torn away from us."

"Ah, well. Anyway, we don't like the thick air on your planet, reminds us of bad memories from the past. So we try not to breathe there."

"I don't care, I want all those that you've taken away from us back! Where's everyone?"

"All around," was the nonchalant reply.

"We'll take them with us."

"Please, help yourselves."

A Lunarian walked up to him, holding something.

"Here, take a look," the male Lunarian said, pulling off the cloth covering the object.

I gasped.

"I… is that… one of…"

"A fellow gem of yours, indeed. Heliodor. Artificial, of course."

"Artificial?"

"We created this one here after analyzing the real one and carefully tried to recreate the form we saw while gathering. As for the real one, take a look."

Phos and I watched as he put the fragment of Heliodor into something that looks a bit like a vase on a cylinder. Just picture two cones, their tops being fixed on a sphere.

A terrible grinding noise started as visible cracking could be heard.

The both of us stared in horror as the male Lunarian pulled out the resulting yellow powder on a small "tray".

"Oh, that's just four levels, that's why it's still rough," he commented, grabbing a pinch of powder and playing with it. "It'll need ten levels to become a fine powder. And this powder, we spread it around like this…"

He threw the yellow powder over the surface of the moon.

 _Wait…_

I slowly stared down on the colorful surface I was standing on.

"With you…"

I heard a loud thump as I put my hand on my mouth, slowly coming to the same terrible realization Phos did.

"... our world is beautiful."

 _This can't be…_

I bent down, touching the dust.

 _All of my seniors…_

… _seniors I have never met…_

"Say," I heard him ask as I lifted my head up, "what would you two like to know?"

A gold alloy flew above me, slicing him in half.

"Of course," I heard him say as I quickly spun around, Phos already up, as he regenerated behind us, "we can recover much faster here."

Using her alloy again, the peppermint gem sliced the male Lunarian another time.

I saw him regenerate much closer on Phos' other side, ready to strike.

I rushed in, parrying the blow from his sword.

"Monster," I muttered, now seething with rage.

 _He murdered them._

 _He murdered them all._

I swung both our swords away, proceeding to punch him relentlessly.

Blow after blow, he still was unfazed.

"I've never met them, you know…" I said as I kicked him in between his legs.

"Cute," he said, still unfazed.

"I've always held on to the belief that they'll never die, that they'll return one day."

I punched him in the face one last time before deciding to strangle him with all my strength.

"Look at the 'good' you've done," I hissed under my breath, staring deep into his eyes.

"Good effort."

I felt him punch my stomach hard.

I reeled back in a daze, feeling parts of my torso leave my body and fall onto the ground.

"Don't you dare touch my junior!"

Phos leapt over me and sliced him again.

"I've had enough," that annoying apathetic voice came from behind.

I felt something stab through my neck from behind.

Darkness.

* * *

I felt myself return to consciousness.

Sitting up and opening my eyes, I felt my body creak from the cracks.

Touching my torso, I noticed that it had been filled up.

Looking around for Phos, I noticed the peppermint gem just beside me, sitting up too.

"You alright, Dan?"

I nodded.

Just noticing this, I looked at the Lunarians surrounding up, all looking in awe.

"So this is phosphophyllite! Amazing!"

"There's even gold for their arms! We've really hit it this time!"

"Hey, what's the other one? Eh, danburite you say? What even _is_ that?"

I frowned at the last comment, inciting a small giggle from Phos.

"We've pieced you two back together, but left the cracks as they were," the male Lunarian said, walking towards us. "If you two try to pull a fast one, you will be immediately ground up. Your weapons will be returned soon, though."

He checked his watch. _Watch?!_

"The only way to stop you two were to sever your heads. But now it took nine hours for both of you to come back to consciousness."

 _Hmm…_

"Such unique bodies. We're the same, actually."

"Put them back," I muttered.

"What?"

"Put my seniors back as well. You can create synthetic gems; surely you can put their dust back into shards and reassemble them."

"It's impossible."

"Liar."

"Hey, don't be rude!" one of the other Lunarians shouted. "Can we throw this one into the grinder?"

"Try me," I hissed, glaring at the Lunarian who said that.

"Eek!"

"Absolutely not," the male Lunarian replied, "our guests just don't understand yet. Now, would you two like a tour?"

Phos and I looked at each other before looking back at him.

* * *

"This hill," he explained as we walked down the street of the rather bustling Lunarian city, "was constructed with special metals and mineral oils that rise from the depths of the moon. The mineral oils melt by night and by morning they harden again, and it is due to that which makes the streets look different every day."

Both Phos and I looked around. The Lunarians were talking to each other, walking around, eating, playing…

"The same metals and oils serve as material for the synthetic gems you've seen, their weapons and the like," he went on. "The chemical composition of the moon is the same as the ones of the planet, since they used to be a single whole. This allows us to create gems like you down there, up here."

"Prince!" a Lunarian called out from behind as she and her friend grabbed onto Phos. "Can we break Phosphophyllite?"

"Ah?!" the peppermint shouted in alarm.

"They're all cracked up already!" the other one added on.

"Impossible," "Prince" replied, "we left the both of them like this only as a failsafe. Now, leave us."

"Boo!" the more bubbly one pulled a face as her friend dragged her off.

"'Prince'," Phos asked, "is that your name?"

"It's not my name, but the call me that," Prince replied. "Originally, among our animal ancestors, the word was used to designate individual representatives of society; those who led it. But 'prince' was also used for prominent individuals. It's not important," he shrugged off. "You also use a lot of words like 'school' and 'Sensei', whose original meanings you do not know."

Phos looked at me for a brief moment.

"Are your animal ancestors… humans?"

"Hm."

Prince turned around to look at the peppermint gem.

"I believe Ventricosus told you that?"

"H-how did you…"

"It's quite simple, really. We've sent her to your 'school' some time ago, she probably have told you, if not someone else."

"She said you want..." Phos began.

A squeaking sound from below interrupted her.

Her legs were surrounded by numerous small Admirabilis, holding onto the peppermint gem's agate legs.

 _Ah, that's right, that agate._

"Stop!" and "Come back!" were among the things the other Lunarians shouted as they tried to pry the little creatures from Phos.

"Prince!" one of them shouted. "Something's attracting the kids to this gem!"

"Hm."

Phos looked at one of the Admirabilis that was held up in front of them.

"... that you want to become humans again," she managed to finish as the sea creatures were taken away.

"The Admirabilis jump to conclusions," the male Lunarian replied. "The truth will take some time to explain. The time comes for the oils to melt, as you can see beneath your feet."

Looking down, both Phos and I noticed the supposed mineral oils melting and evaporating into white mist.

"Let's get going, it will be late."

Following Prince, who was climbing a flight of stairs, Phos slipped on a puddle of oil.

"Woah!"

"I got ya," I assured after managing to grab her left hand.

On her other side though, Prince had also grabbed her other hand.

"This way," he said, leading us up the flight of stairs, still holding onto Phos.

To our surprise, the mist of wax wrapped around our tattered uniforms, forming something like new dresses for us.

Reaching up, in front of us stood a large empty "ballroom" of sorts, only occupied by a single table in the center along with three chairs. At the other side of the room, two Lunarians stood, like waiters.

"Take a seat," Prince requested, sitting down.

Two Lunarians, each holding a chair, moved them for us as both Phos and I sat down too.

Three other Lunarians appeared, each putting a large plate in front of the three of us.

I looked at my plate.

 _That's a small portion._

"Humans, one of the once-living beings," Prince began. "They are indeed our ancestors. When humans, like all animals, reach the stage of cessation of life, which was known as 'death', only two of the three components that constitute them, namely the flesh and bone, returned to the earth. Only before the end of human civilization did it become known, that the 'spirit', having separated from the other two, became a separate element, so that it can reach a certain point in the universe, from it is transferred to another place called the 'other world'. Everything up to this point, reliably-established facts."

He picked up a weird-looking fork and knife.

Phos glanced at me for a bit, then turned back.

"What… are you doing?" she asked the leader of the Lunarians.

"Oh, eating," was the nonchalant reply as he began to dig in.

"It is assumed that the other world is devoid of anything; just simple, serene nothingness. But only clean souls, cleared of all past sins, can enter. For the purification of the souls, prayers from living humans are needed. A conglomeration of mutated human souls that had not received prayers and are therefore stuck on the moon…"

He took a bite.

"... that's who we are," he finished.

Phos was silent.

"Is it clear so far?"

"I think I've got the main idea," was the reply from the peppermint gem.

"Excellent."

The Lunarian waiters cleared away our dishes and presented us each with a new one.

"So," Prince continued, "that machine was created for us."

 _Machine?_

"'Machine'?" Phos asked, puzzled.

"Oh, right, you don't know. A machine is a tool created by humans to effectively replace human labor. That 'Sensei' you call, was created by humans. A prayer machine."

"What?" I blurted out.

"Created… by humans?" The peppermint gem also muttered, equally surprised.

"Yes. It seems that it was originally created for a rather poetic reason, so that the last living human will not be lonely. But nevertheless, it is an incredibly powerful machine of destruction capable of splitting the human body into a pure spirit. But after some time, it broke down. He stopped doing his work. And we remain here - unpurified. That's why day by day, we persistently and repeatedly encourage him to work. And for some reason, he cherishes you."

Looking at Prince, I noticed the bouquet of flowers in front of me melting away. Looking around with some alarm, I noticed the whole room was melting away.

"H-hey, will this room hold?"

"Relax," was the reply from the lead Lunarian, "this place will not cave in. The mineral oils do not collapse in chunks."

"Ah…"

"So…" Phos muttered, still absorbing the new information, "that's the reason you're abducting us?"

Prince took another bite. "Yes. Now, I don't want to defend the machine, but I believe he is not deceiving you. Most likely, it is designed so that it can't give secret information without the permission of a human. Well, one way or another, after tens of thousands of years, we have exhausted all possible ways to make him earn us paradise."

He continued eating.

Phos and I looked at each other, Phos being confused and shocked at the new information.

For some reason, though, I was calm.

"Well," Prince suddenly continued, catching the attention of both of us again, "if he prays for us, nothing else will happen once we're gone. Perhaps the situation will change if you shake him and make whatever that was loose inside fall back in place. If any of you two have any suggestions, I'd like to listen."

He picked up a small piece of food on his spoon. "Here, try this please?"

He extended it out to Phos.

The peppermint gem looked at me, confused.

Slowly, she inched forward and bit onto the spoon.

Prince let go.

"How is it?"

Phos stared blankly at him, the oils dripping out of her mouth. "It's decent."

"Oh? I'd like that spoon back, by the way."

The peppermint gem removed it from her mouth, passing it back to Prince.

The Lunarian leader then picked up the remaining piece of morsel, extending it to me.

"Your turn."

Holding onto the spoon, I put the food into my mouth and chewed.

 _Glad I didn't forget how to eat..._

I swear I saw Prince being taken aback for a moment, his facial expression briefly showing surprise.

 _W-what did I do?_

I tried to swallow, but I realized that I couldn't.

"It's… okay," I commented, mouth still full.

"I see."

"Um… do you have anything like… a napkin or something?"

"Hm? How do you know what a napkin is?"

 _Oh, crap!_ "Uh- Sensei did teach us things like this. Trivia, basically. Not necessarily important, but good to learn nonetheless."

"Understood," was the reply as I internally sighed in relief.

"Here you go."

Prince threw me a napkin, which I caught and spit out the food in my mouth.

"Well," he continued, checking his watch and standing up, "it may be getting late, but we're not done yet."

Following suit, both Phos and I noticed that the oil "dresses" had also disappeared. At this point of time, the mineral oils had mostly melted away already, leaving us inside a metal rectangular frame with a counter on one side.

The male Lunarian headed over to the side and looked out at the large collection of oil, resting on the metal counter.

"See," he continued, "the name 'Kongo' is Japanese for 'the hardest material in the world'."

The peppermint gem blinked. "Ja...panese?" they puzzled.

"Ah, it's an ancient language, what you're using now was called 'English' by the humans," the Lunarian leader explained.

He paused as two Lunarians served us drinks. Prince got his drink in a shot glass with a single large block of ice, while Phos and I got ours in cocktail glasses.

"Moving on, you can probably see why that name was not given for nothing. After all, you've most likely know that he is resistant to physical damage. That is because his exterior is made out of unalloyed artificial hexagonal diamonds. Who would have thought it would be damaged internally?"

I looked at him in suspicion. _Call it a gut feeling, but this guy feels pretty dodgy._

"It seems that humans were not too concerned about the future which they had created," he went on. "In your world, there are no machines. And that's probably a consequence of trauma of Kongo, who doesn't want civilization to develop. Maybe with that status quo it'll be easier to hide who he really is. We can't synthesize pure hexagonal diamonds in here."

Prince took a sip and looked at the both of us.

"Ah, now let me take the time to tell you two about our attempts to convince Kongo to help us. We repeated the same futile actions for a long time; pleading, arguing, persuading, demanding, even showing obedience. But Kongo, being adamant, refused to budge. When we captured your partners, we tried to persuade them to give us their cooperation, but they either refused to talk or acted weirdly. We actually didn't just try persuasion; we even tried to interrogate them, torture them as well."

I felt like I was shot in the heart. "Tortured?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, you gems don't seem to register pain at all. In the end, we just dropped the idea, along with every attempt to persuade them."

I stared at him. "You're not human. We're living things too, you know."

The Lunarian leader looked away. "Well, I'm not human anymore, so you're right."

"You _know_ that's not what I meant."

"Hm."

He stared back at me.

I refused to show any surprise.

"Odd. Anyway, morality is solely up to the interpretation of the individual."

I held myself back as he looked back down at his drink.

"We initially returned them back, believe it or not, but after not observing any actions we recaptured them for good. We then tried our hands at creating synthetic gems, but we observed no movement. It's the same even after we combined them with the genuine ones; basically, Kongo is stubbornly adamant and refused to help, even after all of that. Notice how we didn't retrieve those pieces used in our weapons? They're all artificial."

A certain few yellow pieces of a gem's hand I remembered Rutile holding surfaced in my mind. "Like those pieces of Helio some time back?"

"Yes. Heliodor is its full name; I mentioned the name before both your heads came off."

 _Ah, right._

"Well," the male Lunarian went on, apparently not tired of the speech he was giving, "perhaps Kongo can't tell the difference between genuine and artificial pieces of gems. It's the same as our usual form of clothing; we wear these because they resemble the clothing of the ones that the machine was made to obey. That's a medium-term plan though; our long-term plan is to use your dust to cover this moon."

We stayed awkwardly silent for a few moments.

"Shiro," Phos suddenly mentioned. "Is that a pet of Sensei?"

"Ah, yes. That 'dog', as humans call that particular species, is indeed once Kongo's pet and the machine was attached to it. As it was not prayed for after its death, it took on that form for its spirit."

We stayed silent again.

Phos looked at me.

I returned with a questioning look.

"Ah, all spectacular failures," Prince said, getting our attention back. "Really, though; what else can you expect from trash like us? We are simply garbage for ghosts; nothing good ever comes from us."

He sat his glass aside and buried his face into his arms.

For the first time, I felt pity for this man. _Even after all he's done, all he wants is to just move on._

 _That being said, I remember something that may explain everything…_

"Oh!" one of the three newly-arrived Lunarians said, seeing the depressed Prince. "Our Prince is sad again?"

All three of them surrounded the male Lunarian.

"It's, like, the twenty-fifth time already this week! Who was the one who said the next time will definitely work?"

"Yeah," the second one said, "pull yourself together! Oh, you're drinking again, but you get drunk easily!"

"Exactly," the last one commented, "and that is the strong type too!"

All three of them turned their attention to both Phos and I.

"Hey, gems!" one of them called out as even the waiters joined in. _Ah, the waiters kinda look male, too._ "Your kind absolutely tortured the poor Prince! Can't you see how vulnerable he is?!"

"What?" Phos managed to utter, confused.

The closest Lunarian girl slammed a cup on the table. "Once the Prince comes to his senses, he will ground both of you to dust! So don't get too full of yourselves!"

"Hey," I retorted, feeling annoyed, "what the hell _is_ your problem?"

All the surrounding Lunarians stared at me in surprise.

"Huh?" the one who slammed the cup asked, confused. "What… did you say?"

 _Oh._

"Never mind," I quickly replied, turning my body to face her and crossing my arms. "Have some limits, will ya? We two in particular came all the way up here to ask you people questions, the others wouldn't bother talking to you. You should be glad you have listening ears here, ungrateful brats."

The Lunarian seemed taken back for a moment.

"Why, you little…" she sneered, putting her face closer to me.

"Enough," Prince ordered, and she stepped back. "Don't start a fight with our guests. Now, leave us."

"Hmph!"

The three Lunarians walked off, escorted by the two waiters.

They stopped, turned around and pulled face at us.

I was about to leap up and walk over to them, but Phos stopped me.

"Not now, Dan."

"Fine."

I relaxed.

"Oh, right," Prince suddenly said, looking up. "Where _is_ he, anyway?"

"Who?" the peppermint gem asked.

"Your 'guide' that I requested. Hold on, stay here."

He rushed off.

Phos and I were silent in a bit.

"I don't believe this…" I heard her say from behind.

Turning around, I looked at the peppermint, grabbing the tabletop strongly.

"I… I didn't expect things to turn out this way. I thought Sensei only made a deal with the Lunarians, I honestly didn't expect him to be a machine humans made."

They looked up at me, visibly distraught and shaking.

"Dan, why are you so calm? Sensei is just a machine; don't you find this terrible? Do you have answers?"

I sighed and smiled lightly, turning and resting my back on the tabletop. "As a matter of fact, I have. I believe Sensei still cares for us."

"H-how?"

"Well, you see, back then we had these very advanced machines called 'computers'. They can basically do anything; calculate things with a blink of an eye, solve very complex equations, serving even as a means to connect the whole world together. Well, it got to a point where they started to think about themselves, this is called 'artificial intelligence', or 'AI' for short. The robots, basically computers with mechanics and can move around, had them, and boy, do they feel pretty realistic for something man-made. Kongo is perhaps much more advanced, being completely like a human in behavior."

"What does that solve? That only strengthens whatever Prince just said."

"Calm down, here me out. This issue was also present back then; should this self-thinking type of machine be treated like all of us humans, or are they mere tools? The dilemma with Sensei is the exact same too, is Sensei just a broken machine, or did he choose to not help the Lunarians with his abilities for a possibly very good reason?"

Phos got up and stood in front of me, surprised but visibly much more relieved. "What's your stand on these machines?"

I smiled. "These machines can think on their own; they're sentient. I believe we should respect that and treat them the same we treat ourselves."

Phos looked at me in admiration, then moved in for an embrace.

"You're amazing, Dan. I guess I'd think the same way as you, too. It's only right."

I returned the hug. "That's good. I'm glad you feel much better now."

"Yeah."

* * *

A short while later, Prince returned, this time a chubby male Lunarian following him from behind.

"Hi, I'm Semi!" he said as he came forward to greet us. "I'll be your guide from now onwards!"

"First thing, though," Prince chimed in, "we will now properly put you two back together and give you new clothes. Hey," he called back behind him, "get to work."

A group of Lunarians, bringing multiple tools and some clothes, quickly rushed over.

* * *

After some time, all the damage on Phos and I were fully-repaired. Prince had ordered that our original clothes be repaired and later returned to us; for now, the both of us are going to be wearing reproductions of the uniform, originally intended for use with the synthetic gems. Also, our weapons are returned to us. Prince seemed interested in my balisong knives, but other than visually studying them he didn't do anything else.

"Now," the male Lunarian leader said, checking his watch, "it's getting late. We have prepared a room for you two to rest in, since I guess you two wouldn't like sleeping in mineral oils like us. Semi, would you bring our guests to their room?"

"With pleasure," was the reply. "Alright, follow me, please."

"Wait!" I suddenly called out, remembering something.

Prince looked at me.

"Which moon are we on? Is this Luna?"

The Lunarian leader was surprised. "Yes, this _is_ Luna, how do you know its name?"

"Well, trivia. Sensei does teach us these things too."

"Hm. Well, get going now, it's getting late."

"Now, time for you two to follow me!" Semi said, walking towards the steps.

We followed our guide down the steps and into the now-bare streets.

"So, what are your names, you two?" he suddenly asked.

"Phosphophyllite, but call me Phos."

"Danburite, Dan will suffice."

"Nice!" was the cheerful reply. "I look forward to spending more time with you two tomorrow!"

 _This Semi…_

 _I like him._

We took a left turn down another street.

"Ah, hey, you two will be sharing a room with one other gem."

"Huh? Another gem?" Phos asked.

"Yes. The only one not ground up to dust; I don't know why, but somehow they have convinced Prince to keep them intact, on the condition that they be confined to her room at night."

We took a right turn.

"Oh," Semi corrected, "I mean 'their'. You gems are so confusing; you all resemble human females, ya know?"

Phos giggled, amused. "Do we?"

"Yes," was the reply as we took yet another turn. "Actually, I care for you gems too, and if I have a reason to do something only Prince could ever do, it would be to restore and send back all of your buddies."

I was intrigued. "Why?"

He stopped and looked at me. "That's easy; you have sentience too. You guys honestly deserve better treatment from us."

I was surprised. "Now that's odd for a Lunarian," I replied, smiling.

"Well, not all of us are bent on grounding you all to dust, you know," he replied, resuming the walk. "Prince is aware of this, but he doesn't mind."

"Hmm…" Phos wondered beside me.

"Ah, right, I didn't mention. This gem you're going to meet is also the oldest of all the gems. Red Diamond, you guys met them before?"

"Nope," the peppermint gem replied, "I was probably born way after they came here."

I wanted to reply the same, but something tells me I've somehow met them before.

"The same," I said, preferring not to lie.

"Ah," Semi acknowledged as we hurried along the empty streets.

* * *

At last, we entered a building, probably the location of our room and Red Dia, whoever they are.

We climbed up a flight of stairs, arriving at a single door.

Opening it, we walked in, only to find another door after a small distance in.

"A design insisted by Red Diamond, and Prince decided to follow their preferences. Well, I'll be running off soon, after I knock on the door to get their attention I'll be off, alright?"

Both of us nodded.

"Nice! Don't worry, they know you'd be coming, we told them earlier on."

He knocked on the door. "Red! The new gems are here!"

"Yes, just a second!" a very familiar voice called out from inside. "Get them to enter, Semi!"

"Yes!" he replied. "Now, I'm off, see you guys tomorrow!"

Semi walked away, waving back at us.

We waved back till he was out of sight, then looked at the door.

"What's the matter?" Phos asked softly, looking at my shocked expression

"I-it's probably nothing," I replied.

 _That_ is _clearly something, though._

 _That voice…_

Opening the door, Phos entered first, followed by me.

This room was decently-sized, with a diagonally-placed large bed placed in the center, its top touching the left wall. On the right were a whole row of closets, nothing wrong with that.

On the other side of the bed, a small bedside table stood, also touching the left wall, its mirror facing towards our side. On its right were three cupboards, they're the wider, short type with only drawers.

Rummaging through the center drawer, however, was an oddly familiar figure, dressed in the standard gem uniform, their hair reflecting red brilliantly around the whole room.

"Dammit, I can't believe this!" she muttered loudly, surprising me even more. "Really should have arranged this damn cupboard when I had the chance to; where the hell are my spare clothes? If those two need those, what am I supposed to do, get them to sleep naked beside me?"

She sighed and stopped rummaging.

"Well, I didn't expect myself to end up here after that idiot hit me with his damn Toyota. I mean, I was expecting to wake up meeting whatever almighty being that's real and having my judgment given or something. Somehow I ended up in this post-apocalyptic parallel world."

She continued rummaging.

"Well, this life is great, though. Or 'was', for that matter. Initially Kongo found me, I understood that he was a sentient machine, we carved that school out of quartz, brought in everyone over the next few thousand years and lived happily. Then I ended up having such a petty argument with Kongo, who knew I'd end up being taken to the moon not even half a day later? Luckily I managed to convince Prince to keep me intact, with this body I can escape eventually."

She stopped again and covered her face.

"I never got the chance to apologize to him. And that newborn Yellow Dia, I wonder how she's holding up after all those few thousand years? Even before that, I wonder how my dear best friend is holding up in the other world. Oh well, time to stop moping and live life from now on, I _will_ find a way out of here for sure, and bring these two along with me."

She stood up and began to turn around. "Alright you two, sorry I kept you waiting, my name's Red Dia-"

That familiar face I haven't seen in a long time stared at me in surprise as I stared back in equal surprise.

We looked at each other for a few moments.

The red diamond then smiled.

"It really has been a while, hasn't it, Nicole?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Hey, author here, very sorry for the unusually late update; I had been rather busy over the past two weeks.**

 _Twenty-Six_

"J… Jane...?" I managed to utter as I walked towards her, beside the bed.

She chuckled. "Yes, it's me alright. Come on, try not to look so surprised, aren't you eager to find out what I've been up two?"

"Do you two know each other?" I heard Phos interject from behind me.

"Yep!" was the reply from Jane. "That was one lifetime ago, the both of us were really close back then. Boy, I could go on for a whole day, but to put it shor…"

All sounds around me stopped registering as I stood there, suddenly being hit by a wave of joy and relief.

 _It's her…_

 _It really is her…_

"... Hey, what's wrong? You look like you're about to cry."

I looked up at my closest friend, feeling my face crack.

"That's because I _am_ about to cry!"

I threw my arms around the red gem, finally breaking down.

"I miss you so, _so_ much! I'm so sorry for not spending more time with you!"

"Huh?"

I went on, sobbing.

A few moments later, I heard her quietly giggle.

I felt one of her arms around my shoulder, the other gently stroking my back.

'Yeah, Nicole, I miss you too. There, there, it's okay now. You've really taken a hard hit from my death, haven't you?"

 _We're together again._

 _At this moment, that is all that matters to me._

 _My best friend has returned._

* * *

"Um, hey," Jane quietly asked, "you can let go of me now."

"No."

"But you've been hugging me for about 10 full minutes."

"No."

She chuckled. "Alright then, but not too long, alright?"

I nodded.

"Hey, you there," I heard Red Dia ask, "what's your name?"

"It's Phosphophyllite, but call me Phos," was the cheerful reply from the peppermint gem.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Red Diamond, you can call me Red Dia. So, I assume you've been looking after Nicole here?"

"You can say that, but I don't think I've not been a good senior…"

"Nah, nah, you've done really well. Thank you."

"H-huh? I don't deserve any praise, it's natural that I look after Dan!"

"Silly, you deserve praise! By the way, what's Nicole's new name now?"

"Danburite," I replied softly, still hugging her. "Dan will do."

"Ah, gotcha. Damn, you're being a bit more clingy than usual, can you let go of me now?"

"No. I lost you for two years, I'm sure as hell not going to let go anytime soon."

"Hehe, alright. Hey Phos, was she ever this clingy to you?"

I heard the peppermint gem giggle. "Not like this, but they tag along with me as much as they can."

"Ah, that's natural. I suppose she told you everything about her past?"

"Well, bits and pieces, some bullying issue and such, but Dan never mentioned you."

"Sorry," I muttered. "Never got the chance to tell you about her."

"Heh, it's okay. You'd tell me eventually too, is that right?"

"Yeah."

"Then that's fine with me," Phos replied comfortingly.

"Hey," the red diamond suddenly asked, "is that gold?"

"Yep, but it's technically a gold-and platinum alloy. I lost my original arms and got these down here. See, even my hair have these gold sections, regretted cutting them in the first place so I 'grew' them out! My legs are half-made out of agate, too!"

"Woah, that's pretty cool! Though, you lost some memories too, right?"

'Well, yeah. Nothing much, though."

"That's good. Nicole, get off me, you've had enough."

"No."

I felt something going on behind me, outside my field of vision.

'Alrighty then," Jane replied, "guess we'd have to pry you off now. Now, Phos!"

I felt two pairs of arms grab me.

"Wait, wha- woah, not this hard- ah!"

With the combined efforts of both Red Dia and Phos, I was pried off the former's shoulders.

I was then "tied" around Phos by their alloy.

"Hey, Phos, let me go!"

I struggled to no avail.

'No," was the cheeky reply from the peppermint gem, who was smirking.

"Huh?! Come on, please!"

Meanwhile, Red Dia was simply sitting on the floor, enjoying the scene.

I suddenly felt Phos trip, and as a result she fell on her back.

"Ow!"

Taking the chance, I immediately broke free and tried to get up, but I slipped and fell flat on my front.

"Argh!"

"Heh, " the red diamond commented, getting up, "the both of you are really somewhat clumsy- woah!"

She tripped over my left arm and fell onto the bed, before rolling down and crashing into both Phos and I.

We laid there in silence for a few moments…

… before bursting into laughter.

* * *

"It's fortunate that we gems don't get hurt easily," Red Dia commented as the three of us sat on the bed, "else we'd all be in pretty big trouble by now. Speaking of which, what are each of your hardnesses?"

"Three and a half," Phos replied cheerfully, "but with the agate and alloy, I'm no longer that weak."

"Seven and a half," I answered, "but I'm also brittle and have a poor cleavage."

"Interesting. Well, guess you two already know my hardness, right?"

"Ten," the both of us answered in unison.

"Great! First thing I want to ask you guys, how's it back at the school?"

"It's fine," the peppermint gem replied, "there's the twenty-something of us all living together."

"That's good. How's Yellow Dia down there? Also Padparadscha too, for that matter."

"They're fine," I answered. "Yellow Dia's still the fastest among us, and Pad just woke up briefly."

"Sweet! Wait, Padparadscha just woke up?"

"Yeah, a few minutes. Rutile has good hands, I'm pretty sure she'll be up again."

"Rutile?" the red diamond puzzled. "Who's that?"

"Quack doc," Phos chimed in, snickering. "To be serious though, they're the doctor. Unrivaled skill in that particular aspect."

"Sounds good. Looks like Kongo finally got a specific gem to act as a doctor, eh?"

"What do you mean 'finally'? Wasn't there a doctor before Rutile?"

"Nope, not at all! Any damage we took from the Lunarians, we fixed them ourselves. I did try to persuade Kongo to assign one of us as a dedicated doctor, but we found nobody suitable."

Someone knocked on the door, and we briefly stopped.

"Hey, who's there?" Jane called out.

"It's Semi!" was the reply. "Their uniforms are repaired, I'm here to return them."

"Nice, thanks! I'll get the door," Phos replied, getting up.

She opened the door. "Hey, didn't you say you wanted to rush off because it's getting late?"

"Ah, yes, but duty calls," the chubby Lunarian shrugged, handing over the two sets of uniforms over to the peppermint gem. "The one on top is yours, by the way."

"Got it, thanks again!"

"Don't mention it! Now this time I'm off for real, see ya tomorrow!"

And with that, Semi closed the door.

"Here, catch," Phos called out, tossing my set over to me.

I caught it and looked at my black overshirt. No sign of damage.

"Wow, new material?" Red Dia commented, taking the opportunity to inspect my uniform too. "I guess this got lighter too?"

"Yep!" Phos answered. "Mine in particular is even newer, made using more durable fabric that's also waterproof," she added on, passing her set over to the red diamond.

"Hmm, interesting. A great build, I must say."

The peppermint gem beamed. "Courtesy of Red Beryl! They've been doing an excellent job at our clothes; of course, that's expected of our resident tailor."

"Ooh, nice!"

"We also have winter clothing too, on their insistence. Red Beryl makes our dresses yearly without fail for that, even when faced with delays."

"Diligent," Red Dia commented, impressed. "Things sure did change back there while I was gone."

"Ah, Red Dia, how old are you?"

Jane thought for a moment.

"That's a really good question, I think I've lost count," she replied sheepishly. "Oh wait, I remember! About 5900 years old!"

"Woah! That's almost twice the age of Yellow!" Phos commented, surprised

"Yep!" was the reply from the red diamond, now beaming with pride. "When I was taken away, Yellow was a hundred-year-old kid. I was pleasantly surprised when a new diamond was born, and I think that's why the both of us had a closer sibling-like bond with each other than with anyone else around. Not that I'm not close with them, but Yellow was closer to me."

She looked away, a tinge of sadness in her eyes. "From what Semi told me, all of the gems I know are now turned to dust, save from Yellow and Pad. I was hoping that there was a way to restore them, but I think I need to accept the fact that that's beyond the abilities of anyone."

The peppermint and I stayed silent.

Jane quickly stopped sulking and looked at the both of us with a smile. "So, now you've gotten back your original clothes, aren't you going to change into them now?"

"Eh?" Phos uttered, confused.

Red Dia smirked. "Promise I won't look."

She then quickly turned back. "Tell me when you're done!"

* * *

"Those twintails look nice on you, you know that?" Jane commented, the three of us lying on the bed.

"E-eh?"

I felt my face turn red.

"Yeah, they do," she giggled.

"Get closer to me, Dan," Phos said cheekily, getting closer to me from my right.

"Nah, Nicole's staying with me," Red Dia retorted, getting closer.

"Oh, so it's like that, huh."

The peppermint gem inched closer.

"Oh, it's _on,_ " the red diamond replied, also inching closer.

Phos squeezed into my right.

Red Dia squeezed into my left.

"H-hey," I uttered, "I need my space…"

"Ah," both of them went as they moved away, "sorry."

* * *

I opened my eyes.

Jane's sleeping face was the first thing that greeted me.

Beginning to blush, I noticed that I've been hugging her all this while.

 _E...hehe… Guess I'll need to free myself._

 _Deja Vu, though. That one school camp._

Trying to move, I noticed that Phos herself had wrapped her arms around me too, hugging my back.

"E-ehh?"

 _Yep, I'm stuck._

 _Not a bad thing, though._

Just then, an alarm went off.

Red Dia rolled over to her other side, while Phos released her grasp on me.

I laid in the center, facing the ceiling.

"Ah, morning Nicole. Actually, Dan. Does it really matter?"

"N-nope," I replied, "I wouldn't mind."

"Sweet!"

She sat up and stretched just as Phos got up too.

"Ah…" the peppermint gem muttered, "is it morning yet? What's that sound?"

"Seems so," Red Dia replied, shutting off the alarm, "8 in the morning."

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

'Good morning!" Semi's voice called out from outside. "We're going on the tour today, Red Dia can come along too!"

"Nice!" was the reply as the red gem immediately got up. "Give us a few, alright?"

"Sure! I'll be dealing with something else too, I'll meet you guys outside later!"

* * *

Stepping outside, the three of us are swarmed by a massive group of Admirabilis.

Actually, specifically Phos.

"King… King…" they muttered.

"Something to do with that agate?" Red Dia asked.

"Possibly," the peppermint gem replied.

"They say 'King'," I commented, "but the agate here was used from Aculeatus' shell."

"You're right," Phos replied, "I think the Admirabilis here are too 'dazed' to tell the difference though."

"Here I am!" Semi called out, walking across the group. "Now, let's head off!"

* * *

"Hey," the red diamond whispered to me as we walked on the streets, "how long was it after my death did you meet your demise?"

"A few months," I replied, "about 3."

"Interesting, that'd make it each month there the equivalent of 2 thousand years here."

"That's a pretty large difference," Phos chimed in, slowing down to join us.

"Yeah, seems that way," Jane replied.

"Hey, can you three speed up a bit?" Semi called out from ahead. "We have places to go!"

* * *

"Hey, you guys need to go!" Semi called out to the Admirabilis crowd which had followed us all the way to this building.

"This has no scent…" I heard one of the creatures squeak out.

Phos thought for a moment.

"Um, disperse until evening?" she said out of the blue.

The sea-faring flesh immediately went away.

"I'm good at this!" Semi replied, beaming proudly as Phos chuckled. "Anyway, come in!"

Entering, we arrived at a massive room full of ball-like structures. Looking around, we noticed that we're standing on some kind of platform.

"Um, this is a factory that produces synthetic gems," Semi explained while reading from a pamphlet. "Uh, those things in front of us… uh… these spherical apparatus, creates high pressure to… um… synthesize gems…"

"Let me read," Phos interrupted, annoyed.

Receiving the pamphlet from Semi, the peppermint gem furrowed as they looked down at the words.

"Nope, can't read."

"Let me try," I offered, getting the piece of paper.

I stared at the foreign characters.

"What is this language?"

"Let me see," Red Dia chimed in, looking from beside me.

The three of us looked at it for a few moments.

"... It's Sanskrit." Jane concluded.

"Yeah," Semi shrugged, "specifically it's Pali. Prince said that you gems don't use this language."

"Yeah," I confirmed, "we don't."

"Do you need an explanation?" a voice asked from beside.

Turning round, we noticed a female Lunarian in lab-like clothes walk towards us.

"Welcome, the three of you. Now, would you call come closer to the edge of this platform?"

The three of us got closer.

"Now," she began to explain, "within these spherical apparatus, we put in 8 different types of metals and carbon, and using extreme temperatures and pressure, we manage to synthesize large diamonds. Further into this facility we have tubular apparatus to grow synthetic corundum, and even further in we have the equipment for the synthesis of hydrothermal beryl."

She paused for a moment.

"Still further in we have various equipment for the synthesis of other crystals, one type for each, according to their properties. Now, come over to the edge and look down."

Looking down, we observed what seems to be a production section of sorts, where the Lunarians cut and shape pieces of gemstones of varying shapes and sizes.

"This is the ground floor. Down there, workers process synthetic gems in their own way. Fragile ones of poor quality quickly deteriorate in this atmosphere, so they are quickly manufactured into arrowheads and spears. Weapons in general; examples that we had deployed are those heliodor arrows and pink fluorite hooks."

"You guys can't synthesize ones whose samples have not been taken, right?" Red Dia asked.

"Correct. On that topic, the replicas we make use gemstones of the highest quality. The best workers collect them, and later reassemble the pieces to closely resemble you and your kind."

"And the biggest difference between those and us?" Phos questioned.

"The inclusions. To try and deceive Kongo we tried using false inclusions, but we had no luck for so long."

"That makes sense," I commented. "Our inclusions give us life; you can't create organic sentience for gems without organic inclusions."

"Perhaps that's the case," the scientist agreed. "Well, that's mostly it."

"Well, shall we go further?" Semi chimed in. "Up next we have an experimental facility made for the synthesizing of humans."

 _Synthetic humans?_

* * *

"I don't like this place," Phos grumbled, uncomfortable with the weird selection of music going on in the background.

"Me too," I agreed.

"Me _three,_ " Jane chimed in.

"Same here," Semi also agreed.

We're now in some weird dark room, behind a glass panel. On the other side there is a clear liquid of some sort completely filling up that section.

"Well, anyway," Semi said, moving on, "humans were pretty watery, like, their bodies are 70 percent water! Hey, you guys see that moving particle there?"

He pointed to a white string-like organism, changing its shape while it drifted around. "That's a human particle."

 _Hmm…_

We watched the "dancing" particle for a bit more.

"I can't stand it anymore," Phos said.

"Me neither," the male Lunarian agreed, "this strange music playing all the time is getting on me. Shall we all take a break?"

All of us nodded.

* * *

Semi ate something resembling a ball of rice while we sat on an open platform, the Admirabilis all surrounding us.

Phos turned to look at both the red diamond and I before turning to Semi.

"So, you're name's Semi, what's the Prince's name?"

"Aechmea," Jane chimed in.

"Yes," the Lunarian confirmed, "but we don't use it."

"Hm? Why?" Phos puzzled.

"He kinda said that he's ashamed to have a name."

"Complicated guy. And you're not ashamed with having a name?"

"No, of course not! He gave me the name, so I treasure it very much! The same goes for everyone else."

"Hmm…"

The peppermint gem rested her head on her right hand. "You all rely on him a lot, right?"

"But of course! Everybody loves the Prince!"

"I heard that before…" Phos muttered, burrowing her face into her arms.

"Don't tell the Prince I said my name!" Semi anxiously put in.

"Yeah, you can count on me for that. I miss home already…"

Both Jane and I looked at the sulking peppermint gem.

"Same for me," I quietly replied, looking at Earth.

"I want to get back…" Red Dia added.

We sat in silence for a bit more.

"Psst."

"What is it?" Phos asked, looking at Semi, who had inched closer to them.

"All of you, get closer."

We all moved in.

"Phos, Dan, remember when I said not everyone here is bent on grinding you all up?"

"Yeah?" Phos confirmed, now sitting up.

"Well, Prince called a meeting some time back, and his intentions were to never let any of you back until your Sensei agrees to help."

"That's bad," I commented.

"Don't worry; I want you guys to go back too. Now, I need two days to properly prepare, I believe the three of you can think of an ingenious plan to escape?"

"Yes," all three of us replied.

"Nice! Now, a few guidelines; you guys can only leave in the night, and you guys need a vessel. I can handle the vessel, but for you three to sneak over to the pad, that's something you can only think of. Remember, the deadline is two days, good luck."

We nodded in agreement.

"Why should we trust you?" Phos suddenly muttered.

Semi smiled. "Because I can relate to you guys."

* * *

"So," I began, sitting on the bed, "Phos, do we have the information we need?"

"Yep! Prince already told us everything, all we need to do now is to get back."

"I can't believe I'm finally going back!" Red Dia squealed in excitement. "Three thousand years of being stuck here, I'm finally getting back!"

I smiled.

"Still," Phos added in, "we need a way to bring back our siblings, or at least restore them so that we can collect them when we return in the future."

"We can't bring them back as dust," Jane pointed out, "it'll be way too messy and would disrupt our movements."

"Yes," the peppermint gem agreed. "Dan?"

"Yes?"

"Did Ventricosus mention anything about our seniors when she was around?"

"Well, no," was my reply.

"Not even when I was stuck in that shell?"

"Nope, we thought you were her while your pieces reformed on the shell…"

I stopped, coming to a sudden realization. "I've got a way!"

"What is it?"

"Phos, you were melted and formed in Ventrico's shell. What if the Admirabilis here eat the dust and allow our seniors to reform on their shells?"

"My, that's a great idea!" Phos realized in excitement. "But how do we get them to-"

She stopped and felt her legs. "Yes, that's not a problem. Good thinking!"

"T-thanks…"

"But you guys need to make sure they don't consume the dust that quickly," the red gem pointed out, "or Aechmea will grow suspicious about the decreasing amount of dust too soon."

"Yeah," Phos agreed.

"Actually, he doesn't mind the Admirabilis eating the dust," Jane explained, "since they're allowed to do so. But yep, too much at one go will arouse suspicion."

"We'll take that down. So, Senpai, how do we get out of here?"

"No worries, I know the way!" Red Dia replied confidently. "But there are night patrols on the main streets. Want to try the back alleys?"

The peppermint gem and I nodded.

"Sweet! Now _this_ is going to be fun."


	27. Chapter 27

**Hey, author here, guess I really need more time these days, huh. Anyway, this chapter may be a bit short, because I'm trying to start all the intense parts in the next chapter.**

 _Twenty-seven_

"Tell the others quietly," Phos began, crouching down and speaking to the small Admirabilis.

The little sea-faring child looked up.

"Get all of you guys to slowly eat up that colorful dust on the surface of the moon. You guys need to eat as much as possible, but do not consume too quickly so the Lunarians wouldn't notice. We will try coming back for you guys if we get off this moon and hopefully you guys would have eaten all the dust. Pass down the message to the others, is that clear?"

"As you wish," the small snail-like creature uttered quietly as it slid off, probably back to the others.

"Yeah," Phos sighed as she stood up, "that's one thing settled. Dan, Red Dia, did I do well?"

The both of us nodded.

"It's good," the red diamond replied, "now we have a chance to bring them all back in the future."

"That's a pretty smart plan," Semi chimed in, impressed. "Being able to understand the Admirabilis and having Aculeatus' agate shell as part of your legs sure has their quirks."

It's been just a day after the day Semi agreed to help us, and so far we've explained everything to him once we met him again. Unfortunately, there were some bad news.

"So, Semi," I asked again while we stood on the street outside Jane's residence, "Aechmea had a meeting earlier today with the head Lunarians and basically reaffirmed that he intends us to never leave?"

"Yep," he answered, "Prince also had forseen a possible escape attempted orchestrated by you three, so he has decided to introduce night patrolling until further notice."

"Ah, damn."

"However," he quickly added on, "there is some good news. For one, he won't focus security around you guys. He thinks that it'll be alarming for you gems; he intended this to be a hush-hush whenever you guys are concerned."

"And our weapons?" Phos thought up.

"Well, he mentioned nothing about confiscating them. They're going to be pretty useless too, we regenerate on the moon in a matter of seconds after being cut down."

"That's true…"

"So that is why I've chosen to get you guys to delay your plans for 4 more days," he concluded, looking at a small notebook. "Until then, you guys have pretty much nothing to do. It's really boring up here; right, Miss Red?"

"He's spot-on," Red Dia replied rather cheerfully, "the only thing I've been doing for the past nearly-three thousand years being holed up in my room, doing absolutely nothing. Well, other than going down to that massive library down the street to read up."

"Library?" Phos asked, interested.

"Yep, library. There's still a single section I haven't fully-combed yet, though. The one about humans. Hey, wanna go?"

"Sure," I replied.

"Why not?" Phos answered.

"Great!" Red Dia beamed.

"I'll leave the three of you alone then, alright?" Semi chimed in. "Think I have some more work to do, see ya guys later!"

"Goodbye!"

As we waved back at him as the male Lunarian sprinted away, I noticed a Lunarian cloud taking off in the distance.

"They're off again, huh," the peppermint gem commented, also taking notice. "I hope nobody gets captured today."

"Yeah."

* * *

"Alright, we're here!" Jane-nah, _Red Dia_ announced in her usual cheerful manner as we stepped through the front doors of the massive library.

"Shh, not so loud!" a female Lunarian hushed, walking towards us. She was about the same size of us, with relatively long untied hair let down her back. She wore a completely professional white female office uniform, and had high heels matching the color of her clothes.

She was also holding a pretty thick stack of papers and books.

"Aw, come on Laxie, nobody ever comes here!" Red Dia pouted.

"Library rules are still library rules!" Laxie sternly stated. "But you're right," she immediately softened, "just don't be too noisy, alright?"

"Gotcha! Eheh!"

"Thanks, Red. Hey, you two," the Lunarian librarian turned her attention over to us, "you must be the new arrivals. Name's Laxienialle, but you can call me Laxie. Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Marieanna," another female Lunarian librarian called out from the other side, walking towards us. She was dressed the same way as Laxie, but she was taller, had her hair tied up in a professional ponytail and wore glasses. "Call me Marie!"

She was also holding a stack of books and papers, only slightly shorter.

"Phosphophyllite, call me Phos," the peppermint gem cheerfully replied.

"Danburite, Dan will do," I continued. "Nice to meet you two."

"Nice to meet you two, too!" Laxie replied, equally cheerfully. "Uh, um, guess we can't shake your hands, ours are a bit full. We're basically clearing up the library's newer sections today. So, what brings the three of you here today?"

"Well," the red diamond explained, "we had some time to burn, and well, I thought it'll be a great idea to find books about humans to show Phos here."

The word "human" sparked an unusual glint of interest in Laxie's eyes.

She suddenly threw her entire stack into the air.

"Hey! Where'd you like to start?! Come on, tell me, tell me!"

"You idiot!" Marie shouted. "Those are the source copies for multiple research books!"

Phos and I looked at each other, remembering a certain cyan gem back at the school.

We smiled.

 _Yep, deja vu._

* * *

"Hey, thanks for helping me sort this out," Laxie sheepishly muttered as Phos put the last pieces of paper on the reassembled stack. "Sorry, got way too excited."

"It's all good," the peppermint gem consoled. "You remind us of one of us back home."

"Hm?" the librarian looked up from a piece of paper, curious.

"Heheh, that'd be Alexandrite, we call them Alex. Is a Lunarian nut, goes berserk and they turn red whenever they see one of you."

"Ah, I think one of the parties that went down mentioned a gem like that! Didn't know she's so interested in us!"

"Well, about that," Phos muttered, scratching her head, "Alex hates you guys for taking Chrysobel away, and uses the research they did to also try to fix their peculiar condition."

"Oh. Well, guess that isn't far-fetched either. Anyway," Laxie quickly changed the subject, tossing over the paper to a startled Marie who quickly grabbed it, "the human archives are all the way behind. Follow me!"

* * *

"This is the only building on the whole moon that uses none of the mineral oils that came underground," the Lunarian librarian explained as we walked past row after row of bookshelves. "Of course, this is nothing unusual, considering that all the books here are written on paper, and paper itself will be ruined whenever it absorbs any liquid."

"That's a given," Phos replied.

"Yeah, that's just basic knowledge. Anyway, we had to go back to Earth to collect as much wood as possible back in those days. At that time you gems were practically nonexistent, so we had a field day doing stuff like axing down full-size trees. Nothing different from what humans would do though."

"Hey, don't you guys hate the planet? Bad memories?"

Laxie turned to look at the peppermint gem. "Them? Perhaps, but for me, I have no issue at all. Well, isn't really a surprise, is it? Me being a nut when it comes to humans and all."

"Yeah, guess it isn't."

"Alright, we're here!"

We stopped in front of a door.

"Now, I have work to do, so I guess I'll leave you three on your own?"

"Sure thing, Laxie," Red Dia replied cheerfully. "See ya around!"

"Yeah, I'll see if I can join you guys later!"

And with that, the Lunarian librarian rushed off.

"Well," the red diamond beckoned, opening the door, "come on in."

The rather-small room was pretty typical, with three long shelves running from one side to the other. Each shelf has three levels.

Yeah, doesn't look special actually.

That's rather anti-climatic.

"What," Jane frowned, seeing the deadpan faces on both Phos and me, "were you expecting it to be an ancient dungeon filled with yellowed books? Heh, just kidding, let's see what we can do here."

* * *

"So," Phos asked, looking at a picture of the human body, "these books are Lunarian-written?"

"Yeah," was the reply from the red diamond. "Unfortunately, all existing books were apparently destroyed after the 6th asteroid hit, so some of the Lunarians basically took up the job of trying to preserve humanity's existence in books."

"You guys were pretty fragile, you know?" the peppermint gem mused. "If you guys lose any of your limbs, that's pretty much it, right?"

"Well, not exactly, from my time at least there are some prosthetic limbs being researched on. Nowhere as close as another proper arm, though."

"And any strike to your chest or head would kill you, huh."

"Well, yeah, that's something we dealt with."

Phos smiled softly as she flipped the pages to various illustrations of cities. "Must be an interesting life you guys had. Nowhere as close to what the Lunarians and us have."

"Well," Jane mused, "it does get rather boring over time. I love how fresh the school is compared to, say, Singapore. Right, Dan?"

"Y-yeah!" I quickly replied, slightly startled.

"Hehe, some things just won't change. You've really gotten better, though."

I looked up at her. "You think so?"

She grinned. "That's so obvious! You're nowhere as moody as you were back then at all!"

I smiled, remembering the time I had in this world so far. "Yeah, you're right. Also, about that…"

I looked down. "I'm sick of hiding my past from everyone else."

"Ah, that's right," the peppermint gem looked up, "you've never told anyone else. What do you want to do about it?"

"End it, of course. But… you've seen Sensei's reaction, I'll probably be given the boot."

"Now come on," Jane comforted, "I strongly doubt it'll be _that_ bad…"

"But Sensei broke that table! Actually I don't know anymore…"

I put my face in my arms, sulking.

I felt an arm around my shoulder.

"Now come on Dan," Phos cheerfully replied, "we'll never know unless you try. Even if you're rejected by Sensei, you'll still have our absolute backing."

I felt another arm around my shoulder.

"Phos is right! No matter what happens, you can count on us!"

I looked up, smiling softly. "Thanks, guys. But would Sensei kick me out though?"

"Heheh," Red Dia replied, smiling, "It's not time for that yet. We'll see, Nicole. We'll see."

* * *

"And what is the name of the global conflict that started on 1st September 1939 BCD?" Laxie quizzed the peppermint gem, sitting on the floor. "On top of that, give me the incident that sparked it off."

"The Second World War, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland," was the tired reply from the peppermint gem.

"Not bad, Phos," I commented, lying beside her. "You're getting the hang of it."

"When did it end, Phos?" the red diamond popped in beside me, also lying on the ground.

"2 September 1945 BCD," was the quick reply from Phos before she slumped down. "Dang, I'm tired! How long have we been going?"

"4 days of human-related boot camp," the Lunarian librarian answered. "You guys caught on really quickly, actually."

"Heh, thanks."

"Well, that summarizes the quiz. Not bad, all of you. Oh, you guys are going to sneak back tonight, right?"

"Yep!" was the reply from Jane. "Thank you for offering us help if we run into trouble."

"No problem, Red. I'll really miss you guys, though. If I were still alive I'd say 'Do remember to write to me often!', but there isn't any mail link from the moon to Earth, is there?"

"Aw, cheer up, Miss Laxie! You can still see us if you sneak down if you want!"

"Yeah, good idea."

She smirked. "I'll keep that in mind as an option, thanks. Ah, also…"

Laxie checked her watch. "It's 9 pm at this moment, you guys really should go get some sleep first."

"Yeah, you're right," the peppermint gem agreed as we all got up.

Phos looked at the Lunarian librarian. "I wonder when we can meet again…"

Laxie beamed. "Well, wait till I sneak down someday!"

Red Diamond suddenly went forward and gave her a hug. "I'll seriously miss you. Until next time, I guess."

The librarian smiled and returned the hug. "Yes, Red. Until next time."

* * *

" _Remember, meet me at the platform at 4 am sharp!"_

Semi's words from the trip back to Red Dia's room last night echoed in my head as I picked up my daggers, the three of us all up at 3:45 am.

"Now that is an interesting pair," the red diamond commented, changing into a uniform that had a shorter collar than ours for its white undershirt. "What are they?"

"Special daggers bound to me, gifted from a friend," I replied, attaching them to the back of my belt. "You'll meet Katsumi back in the school, too."

"Ah, so Katsumi's her name. Wait, what is she?"

I smiled. "A dimension-travelling human who decided to stay in this world. Nobody aside from Phos and myself knows her existence the last time I checked."

"Heheh, pretty interesting. How does she hide, though?"

"Well, she can turn into an orange butterfly, so that ain't a problem."

"Woah, that sounds awesome! Also pretty handy, too."

"Hey," I asked, looking at Jane's uniform, "what's this?"

"Oh, this is my original uniform. Granted it's mostly no longer the same uniform since I patched it up quite some time, but it's still the same to me!"

"That collar," Phos commented, taking a closer look. "I wonder why we got the longer collar design."

"Yeah," Red Dia agreed, "the new design feels a bit too 'uptight', in a way. But that's more professional-looking nonetheless!"

She looked down at her uniform, tears of joy forming in her eyes. "I've been waiting for this day to finally wear this again, even if it was just to remain hopeful. Never did I know that this will become reality at last."

Jane looked up. "This day would never come without the two of you. Thanks."

"Ah, no need to thank me," Phos giggled. "We're all family, of course we'll always help you."

"I should thank you instead, Jane," I replied. "I can't believe I've reunited with you, even after death."

"Aww, Nicole," the red diamond replied, giving me a hug. "This goes both ways too. Guess we aren't complete without the other."

I smiled. "Yeah, we aren't."

"Alright," Red Dia said, releasing me and grabbing her sword, "let's get this show on the road."


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey, author here, I apologize in advance if this chapter happens to be unusually short. Kinda hit a creativity block for most of these two weeks, I'll try making up for it in the next chapter.**

 _Twenty-Eight_

I peeked out of the wall and observed the street.

All clear.

Motioning to both Red Dia and Phos behind me, we quietly slipped across the street and into a back alley, leaning against the wall on our left.

"It's nice that this city has back alleys around," Jane commented in a whisper, "or else it'll be much harder for us to do what we're doing right now."

"Hey, Senpai," Phos quietly asked, "where should we go now?"

"Well, the landing pad is behind us," Jane replied, pointing backwards, "but we need to cross another street to more back alleys, then navigate and reach the steps up to the platform. And we have about 12 more minutes left, so we seriously need to go."

"Gotcha," the peppermint gem replied. "I'll cover the rear, with this alloy I can block everything the Lunarians throw at us."

"Sweet! I'll lead; Nicole, stay in the middle, alright?"

"Gotcha," was my answer.

"I haven't used this in an actual fight before," Jane muttered, touching her sword. "Got this from the Lunarians, my original one's back down on Earth. You guys should have seen it, it's hand-crafted for me by Sensei. Ah, let's continue this later, we need to go."

The red diamond peeked out from the alley.

She immediately hid back, looked at us and put a finger to her lips.

"Shh."

Footsteps.

They got louder.

Two Lunarians passed by, both of them not noticing us.

We waited till the footsteps got significantly softer.

Red Dia peeked out again and looked both ways this time.

Motioning to us, we immediately scurried across the street and into another alley. This time, we didn't stop until we took a left turn into yet another alley, this time protected from any Lunarian eyes.

"Phew!" she sighed in relief. "I was lucky they didn't see me. Still, guess they aren't that attentive. Anyway, down here we can run, but let's try to remain quiet still, alright?"

"You got it," Phos answered.

"Gotcha," I replied.

"Nice. Let's go, not much time to waste."

* * *

"Hey," I noticed as we quietly sprinted through the alleys, "what's that?"

"Hm?" Phos and Jane stopped, turning to look at me.

I picked up a small blue piece of gem. "What's this?"

"Weird, wonder where that came from," the red diamond commented, taking a look. "Hey, can I take a closer look?"

I passed it over to her.

She proceeded to inspect the random gemstone piece.

"Hey, I know this, it's Lapis Lazuli."

"Lapis Lazuli? Who's that?" the peppermint gem asked.

Red Dia shrugged, giving an apologetic smile. "I don't know myself, but when she came here her head was missing. That day I was walking around with Semi and happened to see the activity on that bridge. The Lunarians dropped a piece of her while moving the rest of her body to the other side, so I think this piece may have chipped off."

She passed the piece of Lapis back to me. "Hey Dan, hold onto that piece tight till we get back, alright?"

"U-uh, gotcha!" I stammered a bit, sliding it into my right back pocket in my shorts.

The red diamond giggled and hugged me. "Man, you've really gotten cuter since the last time we met!"

I felt my face turn red. "W-wha…"

"Heheh, you _are_ cuter! We'll continue this later, though," she replied, releasing me from her grasp. "Gotta get out of here first."

"Y-yeah."

As we moved on, I felt someone poke my back.

Turning round, I noticed that it was just a frowning Phos.

'Hey, Phos, what's the matter?"

"You're really forgetting me as we go on, aren't you…" she complained softly.

"N-no, it's not like that! I'm sorry for not talking to you that often now!"

The peppermint gem broke into a grin. "I'm just kidding, you're completely fine! Just messing with you, nothing much."

"Phos really is the trickster type, isn't she?" Red Dia commented from ahead. "But Dan's going to be under my care too, so guess it'll be some friendly competition, right?"

"You bet!" the peppermint gem challenged, grinning. "I'm going to be Dan's best senior, and you can't stop me!"

'We'll see, Phos, we'll see!"

"Ehehe…" I uttered between them.

* * *

"Alright, we're here at last," Red Dia muttered as we all finished the flight of stairs, out of breath. "Hey, there's Semi! Right there!"

She waved as we approached the platform, and Semi waved back.

"Okay guys," he said, checking his watch, "wow, you guys arrived on time! Nice! Anyway, I've got the vessel up, but since there won't be a Lunarian on board the speed you'll travel at would be much slower. If my calculations are correct, you guys would be travelling for 5 hours."

"Woah, that's long!" Jane replied. "But it's bearable, thank you Semi!"

"You're quite welcome, Miss Red."

The both of them hugged.

'I'll miss you, you know?" she commented.

"I know, I know," was the reply from Semi. "But we'll meet again someday, I'm sure!"

The both of them stopped and Semi came over to Phos and me.

"You two, too," he said, hugging us.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too," the peppermint gem replied.

"Likewise," I agreed. "I hope we meet again someday soon."

"Hopefully, Dan," Semi agreed as he released us. "Now, you guys should get going before anyone else sees us."

"Yeah, we'll be off then," the red diamond replied as we all climbed on board the cloud-like vessel.

She gave the male Lunarian a thumbs-up. "We're ready!"

"Farewell it is, then," Semi bade as the vessel began to drift away.

As we all waved back, the black veil began to close up, quickly covering the vessel.

Semi, who was waving back at us too, disappeared as our view was covered with the black layer.

And just like that, the black dome was sealed.

"Phew!" Jane sighed in relief as she sat down on the fluffy floor. "For a moment I thought we were going to be caught."

"Same here," I agreed. "Odd nothing interesting happened. Was expecting something like Aechmea popping out or all the guards noticing us at the same time."

"Well, Dan, not every escape plan comes with all that action. Most of the time, it's really just slipping away unnoticed. It's better this way, right?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"So," Phos chimed in, "5 hours, was it? How long would that really be?"

" _Very_ long," Red Dia replied, "but at least we can't keep track of time. Just don't think about it, it'll pass quickly enough."

"True. It's funny though, how we all think it has been a short time when it's been pretty long and the other way round," Phos commented as she sat down.

"Well, it's a natural mental occurence for us," the red diamond replied, "something carried down from humans."

'Why _does_ it happen, Senpai?"

She shrugged. "Beats me, I'm not a scientist. Well, either way it's going to be a long time. So how do we spend it?"

"I don't know," Phos replied.

"Me neither," I agreed.

We went silent for a while.

"Yeah," the red diamond concluded, "this may be a long trip."

* * *

"Goddammit, I can't take it anymore!" Jane cried out and startling me. "Hey, Dan."

"Y-yeah?"

"How's this life been for you?"

"Well, it's been really fun. I like it!"

She smiled. "Good to hear! Tell me about it from the beginning!"

"Huh?" I puzzled. "Why?"

"Well, if we're going to pass time quickly for us, we'd need to do something."

"A-alright. So, um, well…"

Phos decided to get up and listen too.

"Uh… um…"

"Heheh, take your time!" the red diamond comforted. "No pressure!"

"Sure… Well, I woke up on the beach around the cave…"

"That's unusual," Jane commented, "not the Chord Shore?"

"Nope," the peppermint gem replied. "It puzzled all of us too, but I guess everyone has silently decided that it doesn't really matter."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement. 'Well, the first minutes after my birth, I was attacked by Lunarians."

"Wow, that's a bit too soon, Nicole. What happened next?"

"Well, Morg and Goshe came to my rescue. Morganite and Goshenite. But they broke too, and that's when everyone else came in. Then I met Phos, she broke and got put in a black bodybag."

"Ehehe…" the peppermint gem laughed sheepishly. "Hey, I'm just a three-half, can't blame me."

"Hehe, yeah!" Red Dia giggled. "Anything interesting so far, Dan?"

"Well, other than the sea adventure? Right, I met Katsumi before that."

"Hmm. You haven't told me much about her, tell me more!"

"Well, she just kinda flew in one night, gave me a confidence boost. Right now she just lazes around in the school. Well, not really laze around, she flies round to observe everyone and everything. Except for winter, she stayed huddled in my room. Ah, winter! Antarc's a good senior."

"Antarc?"

"Yeah, Antarcticite. She only solidifies under cold temperatures. Gets stronger the colder it gets."

"And we nearly lost them," Phos added on. "I lost these two arms and we went to the Chord Shore to look for replacements. Found this alloy, fitted it on, and right when I was trapped the Lunarians attacked. Dan was broken and nearly taken away, too. I'm glad Sensei came at the right time and prevented everything from happening."

"Well, you also fought before Sensei arrived, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did, but I probably wouldn't hold them off for long anyway."

She looked down.

"Regrets, Phos?" the red diamond asked.

"No, not really. Just remembering that time, is all. Wouldn't want to repeat that ever again."

"Yeah, I understand. Anything else, Nicole?"

"Eh, I think that's it. Hey, what about _you?_ "

"Me? Bah, I've spent my past 3 thousand years on the moon, that's boring as hell."

"What about before you ended up on the moon?"

Red Dia thought for a while. "Well, I suppose I can tell you guys that. This will be a long story though."

I smiled. "I love long stories."

She smiled too. "Heh, that didn't change, did it? Well then, let's begin."


	29. Chapter 29

**Hey, author here. Sorry again, for this chapter is short (again), but I want to end this story with a nice chapter number, thus why this is shorter like the previous one too. Maybe the next one would be longer. No, probably.**

 _Twenty-Nine_

"Well, I woke up on the Chord Shore, being unable to move much. You remember how it was to be a newborn, right? Unrefined with no eyeballs, you can't move and everything around is one major blurry mess."

"W-well, about that," I stammered for a bit, "I was born with everything done. Except the powder and clothes, of course."

"You are?" Red Dia looked up, intrigued. "Weird. Well, it was tough. Really tough. You couldn't stand, you can't grab onto anything, you're essentially just stumbling around on the ground. Being effectively blind doesn't help at all, either. Though, how did you come with everything?"

"I-I don't know…"

That wasn't actually a lie; you-know-who could have made me start out just like Jane.

"Hmm. Well, moving away from that, Kongo found me some time later. He brought me over to a tree and trimmed me till I was proper, gave me my eyes, then made me some clothes. That's when I asked him who he is."

"What was his reply?" Phos asked.

"Well, he told me that he's a machine, simple as that. For what kind, I'm not too sure myself. Something about sending off the humans or something."

"Wait, you knew?" I quickly sat up.

"You guys _don't_ know?" the red diamond asked back, surprised.

"Well," the peppermint gem replied, "the others don't, the two of us only found out when we asked Aechmea."

"He never told you?"

"Nope."

"Weird," Jane pondered, "from my time almost everyone knew, just that he never personally told any of those newer gems. Somehow that information never passed down, huh."

"Did Sensei try to hide that?"

Red Dia shot her a confused look. "Hide? He never did."

"So, we just never thought about asking him."

"Uh-huh. Hehe, you guys should really be more curious, ya know?"

"Eheh, yeah…" the peppermint gem conceded, scratching the back of her neck.

"Anyway, moving away from that, I asked Kongo what I am. He gave some long-ass explanation about what I was made of, and I got bored real quick. Noticing that I was all red and he looked more like a person, I told him I wanted to look like him. So, he went to make some white powder and applied it on my face."

"Not your whole body?" I asked.

"Well, not yet; the idea to give me the full body treatment was after the school was built. Before that, he taught me stuff all under that tree. Everything; no books, just verbal communication."

"Why did you guys decide to build the school?" Phos puzzled, curious.

"That's a really good question, I'm on that now. Sometime later, maybe a few months, Fluorite appeared. Kongo and I were walking down the Chord Shore before coming across this multicolored gem lying on the shore. All she did was twitch in place, which we later found out was due to her low hardness. I wanted Kongo to help her and thus asked him to do so; he then went to that massive quartz stone in the middle of the plains and carved out the school with my help."

"Wait," I stopped Jane after she finished, "how did that quartz stone get there?"

She shrugged. "Beats me. Neither does Kongo know."

"Why do you call Sensei just 'Kongo', senpai?" Phos continued.

"Heheh, it's just a choice, Sensei just doesn't seem to fit for me. Anyway, with that school up, we took in Fluorite and got her up and running. We soon found out that she's quite skilled with her hands, so Kongo taught her how to knit, and soon enough she came up with the prototype of the uniform we're all wearing now."

"Talk about talent!" the peppermint gem commented, amazed.

"Yep, the three of us were really happy altogether! Then other gems came in. Andalite, Sapphire, Prehnite and the others. Ulexite in particular was really unique, now that I think about it. She's translucent, and thus we could literally see her insides by looking down from the top of her head."

"That sounds really unique," I commented.

"Yep! Sometime down the road Sensei made us our weapons, and since I was the secretary and the first to appear I got a commemorative sword that was specially decorated. Still is my most prized possession. I mentioned it back at the moon, right?"

Phos and I nodded.

"Yep, that's it! It's probably still there, would like to show it to you guys once we get back!"

"Hey, Senpai," the peppermint gem asked out of the blue, "how were you captured."

"Well, about that…" the red diamond stammered sheepishly, "it was my own fault. I got into a really heated argument with Kongo one night, and in a moment of anger I ran out of the school onto the plains. Just at that time the sun rose and the Lunarians rolled in, and I left my sword back in the school. Yep, I stood no chance at all. I still feel bad about pissing Kongo off like that, too. Over something stupid, too."

"Well," I comforted her, putting my hand on her back, "now that we're going back, you can finally make amends with him, right?"

Red Dia smiled, looking at me. "Yeah, you're right."

* * *

"Oh look, we're here!" Red Dia shouted excitedly as the black dome began to open up, revealing sunlight.

Phos and I immediately got up.

"What do you know, we're back!" the peppermint gem cried out, looking at the familiar island in front of us. "Hey, Dan, want to take a look from here?"

"Um, I'm afraid of heights, so I'll pass," I replied. "I can still see from here, though. It's really nice!"

"Heheh, some things really don't change, do they?" Red Dia commented as the vessel began to approach the island, slowly descending in altitude."

Out of the blue, the vessel itself began to be covered in white mist.

"Hey, what's going on?" I called out as small holes began to slowly appear.

"Looks like the vessel is disintegrating," the red diamond commented. "Dammit, I don't think we'll make it that close- WOAH!"

Jane had tripped over a small hole right behind her and had fallen over the side.

"Jane!" I shouted, rushing over to look down.

"I'M FINE!" was the reply shouted back to me from below. "WOW, THIS _IS_ FUN!"

"Fun?!"

"No worries, I'll get them! Stay on board till you get close enough!" Phos shouted before leaping off herself.

"Phos!"

I watched as the two figures got smaller as they fell.

Standing back, I began to avoid the multiple holes that were enlarging by the second.

 _Hey, how high am I now? I think I'll jump too-_

I looked down a hole, noticing the blue sea beneath me.

 _Nope._

I looked forward. The disintegrating vessel had now inched above the island. _Above sweet, sweet ground._

Maybe a bit too "above" said "sweet, sweet ground", though.

I moved to avoid a large hole above me…

… and promptly tripped over myself, falling straight through the hole.

"AAAAAAAAAH! HOLY FU*K! HOLY FU*KING SH*T!"

 _Alright Danbu, calm down! Calm the hell down, you can't die!_

I took in a few deep breaths before opening my eyes.

A fast-approaching grass-filled ground greeted me.

 _This is bad. Hey, where's the two of them-_

Two large splashes at the ocean answered me.

 _So if they've landed in the sea, I'm going to…_

I resigned myself to fate as the ground quickly approached me.

"Aw sh*t, why must it be me-"

* * *

White room. Well, not really. You get the idea.

I looked around. Nobody and nothing in sight.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Why the long face?" a voice called out from right behind me, startling me.

"H-hey, you scared me…" I replied to the man, who was reading a book.

"Did I mention that I'm not the God the bible here says?" he asked, flipping through the aforementioned bible.

"Eh?"

"Yep, I'm not," he confirmed, tossing it over his shoulder. It disappeared into thin air. "But that doesn't mean they didn't get some parts right. I'm simply a god that exists, helping people when needed. It's hard, though, can't help everyone and answer every single prayer without repercussions. Anyway, that's not the point of you being here."

I looked at God, puzzled. "Then why am I here?"

"Well," he smiled, "you've done it."

"Eh? Done what?"

"You've healed. You're like a different person compared to what you were a few months ago, right?"

I thought about it for a while, before smiling softly. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks to the second chance you gave me."

"Yep. And now, you've got to make a choice."

"Huh? What choice?"

"Well, you can choose to stay in this world and live out this life, OR you can go back to the world you came from and live out that life."

I stared and him.

He stared back and laughed. "Don't worry, you've got plenty of time. I don't want to pressure you too, so here's two doors."

Two doors appeared before me.

"Left brings you back to where you came from, while the right door brings you back to your new life. Choose wisely, my dear; you've only got one shot. I'll see you around."

And just like that, he vanished.

I stared at the two doors.

 _Wh…_

 _What do I choose?_


	30. Chapter 30

_Thirty_

 _I should return to where I came from, shouldn't I? I mean, I don't belong in this land of the lustrous, do I?_

 _At the same time, everyone that I've met are valuable to me. Phos, Jane, Katsumi, all the other gems, Sensei, even the Lunarians._

 _Agh, what do I choose?!_

I sat down.

 _I…_

 _I really don't know…_

" _Follow your heart."_

Katsumi's words months ago came back to me.

 _And where does my heart lie at?_

I looked up at the two doors.

I thought about the life I've left behind.

 _That wasn't actually full of pain and sadness, but all that I've went through_ …

I then thought about my new life.

 _Hey, the answer's pretty obvious, isn't it?_

I walked towards the right door and opened it.

A flight of quartz stairs greeted me.

 _Those are nice stairs…_

… _Just like the ones the school has, only higher._

I stepped forward.

Flashes of my time in this world appeared in front of me, but I continued walking.

 _Me running away from the Lunarians…_

 _Ah, there's Phos._

 _Rutile giving me the powder finish, Red Beryl then giving me my clothes and hairstyle._

 _Cinnabar fighting to save us._

 _The night I met Katsumi._

 _Me shadowing Phos and Ventrico._

 _Me grabbing as many parts of Phos as I can as they drifted away._

 _Sensei shouting at us after we came back from the sea..._

 _Phos getting her agate legs, then running after gaining control of them._

They just kept going as I climbed.

 _Antarc and Phos, breaking ice floes, then the three of us laughing together._

 _The little Shiro puppies all around the school._

 _Alex going berserk, then teaching us about the Lunarians._

 _Our talk with Aechmea, then Semi._

 _Red Dia…_

 _Me falling from the Lunarian vessel._

As I reached the top of the stairs, another door awaited me. But this one was more "curvy" and styled, something that looks really elegant.

As I put my hand on the door, I looked back, down the stairs, at the opened door below.

 _No regrets now._

I looked forward and opened it, stepping forward into the unknown future.

A brilliant white light greeted and blinded me.

* * *

Darkness.

 _Tired…_

I opened my eyes, and as the first rays of light appeared…

… they suddenly blinded me as a throbbing headache hit.

"Ah!"

I immediately shut my eyes and put a hand to my head.

"She's up! Hey are you okay?" Red Dia's voice called out from beside me.

"My head hurts…"

"Here, let me help you up! Phos!"

I felt two pairs of arms pull me into a sitting position.

I rested my head on my arms over my knees.

"Ow…"

"You fine like this?" I heard the peppermint gem ask me over the intense pain.

"Y-yeah, I think. I feel like ramming my head against a goddamn wall."

"Eheh, don't do that…" I heard the red diamond mutter.

"I didn't know gems feel pain, though. Always thought we just go numb."

There was a moment of silence.

"I don't know how to break this to Sensei…"

"Break what?"

"That I'm not from here, that I was a human. What if he kicks me out? He already reacts negatively to the word 'human' the other time, I'm surely screwed if he knows. But then- ah!" I stopped as I felt a sharp pain at the back of my neck.

"Dan!"

"I'm fine, Jane," I muttered. "Then again, I don't want to hide this anymore. I can't keep this to myself for long."

"Well, I don't think it'll be _that_ bad," Red Dia comforted.

"Don't worry about being kicked out, too," the peppermint gem chimed in. "If Sensei kicks you out, then he'll have to kick _me_ out too!"

"Count me in!" the red diamond commented eagerly. "You don't have to worry, Nicole, it'll all be fine."

"Hmm. Guess you're right, I'm going to tell Sensei once I see him- ah!"

Another sharp pain shot up from my neck.

"I'm fine, I'm fine…" I muttered. "I think it hurts if I lift my head."

I lifted my head slowly, and sure enough, the pain got worse.

"Ah! I'm going to try something, I hope this works."

I quickly lifted my head up as high as I could.

A sharp pain shot through my neck as my migraine worsened momentarily, until I felt something click back into place in my neck.

Suddenly, all the pain stopped.

"Woah, damn! This feels much, _much_ better!"

I opened my eyes and moved my head down. "Alright, let's go bac-"

The faces of every single gem I know stared back at me.

"Uh… huh?"

Quickly looking around, I noticed that I was back in the school. At Rutile's corner, to be exact.

 _Why am I at Rutile's corner?_

"Uh, um, looks like I was out for quite some time, right?" I nervously asked.

"Indeed, Danburite," was the reply from the doctor, who was standing towards my left. "You were out for more than a day."

"Oh. Really? Must have been a terrible fall, ehehe…" I muttered as I looked outside.

It was day.

"It is. You and Phos are a worrying pair. Don't pull off something like that again, okay?"

"S-sure."

"And now," Rutile smirked, leaning closer towards me, "for research purposes, would you tell me more about the human body?"

"... What?"

"Hey, Dan!" Red Beryl cheerfully called out from the other side. "Can you tell me about the fashion styles you guys have back then?"

"... Eh?"

"Is your kind just like us?" Dia asked from in front of me.

"Eh?"

"What was combat like?" Bort asked coldly from behind Dia.

"Eh?!"

"What was the world like back then?" Yellow Dia chimed in.

"Tell me more about your life!" Euclase called out from beside Jade.

"Lunarians!" Alex shouted out from behind. "How do the Lunarians live on the moon?!"

"Idiot," Cinnabar commented.

 _Oh, Cinnabar's here!_

 _Hey, not the point!_

A flurry of questions then proceeded to bombard me simultaneously.

"Eh?! Eeeeeeehh?!"

"Enough," a familiar voice called out from behind everyone.

"Oh, sorry," all of them chimed as they parted in half.

I looked at Sensei, who was holding a book.

 _Ah, my diary…_

He stepped closer to me.

"Ah… u-um… Sen… Sensei…" I stammered as I lowered my head.

There was a moment of silence.

"... I'm sorry." I muttered. "I didn't want you to know because… I was afraid that you'll kick me out."

Another moment of silence.

I felt a hand on my head.

"Idiot. Do you think I am not aware of Red Diamond's origins?"

I looked up in surprise.

"See what I mean now?" the red diamond in question cheerfully chimed in.

"To~ld you he'll accept you!" Phos added in cheerfully.

"But… how…"

"The trumpet, remember?"

"Yeah, I do," I replied, remembering that night. "So you knew I was going to come?"

"Well, I had a gut feeling that someone would show up, so I got Kongo to get everyone to try to play it. You managed to play it, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"It was clear that it was you the night that you played it," Sensei commented. "There was nobody else that could have played it, and other situations also gave you away. Red Diamond speaks fondly of you a long time ago, do you know?"

"She does?" I asked, turning over to a lightly-blushing Jane.

"Yeah, I do."

"Heh, thanks."

"You did not need to hide your identity, but it does not matter anymore," Sensei continued. "Your body is that of a gem, and therefore you are part of us. Danburite, I formally welcome you to the land again."

"T-thanks."

I smiled, looking at Sensei.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" another familiar voice called out, this time from behind me, above.

I looked at the top of Rutile's shelf. "Katsumi? What are you doing here?"

She leapt up, somersaulted and landed on my right.

"Katsumi, how many times do I have to tell you not to use my shelf as a leaping platform?" the annoyed doctor muttered.

"Sorry, doc! But your shelf is perfect as a stopping point for me!" was the cheeky reply.

Rutile sighed.

"Anyway," Katsumi turned her attention towards me, "yep, they found me! And your diary too!"

"Yeah, I noticed. Wait, you're allowed to stay!"

"Yep! And I've got my own room too!"

"Wow, that's great! I'll miss you, though."

"Oh, come on, it's just beside yours! I can always come over!"

"Yeah, you're right. Oh, Sensei," I looked at him, "the Lunarians said that you're a machine."

"Indeed," was the reply.

"It doesn't matter to me, Sensei, to me AI is still life. But still, why won't you pray for the Lunarians? Is it because of nirvana and they're still attached? Or did they do some bad stuff and can't move on?"

Kongo put his hand on my head again. "You have a kind heart. I told everyone when you were unconscious, and I shall tell you the same thing. In time, I will tell everyone the truth, but for now, I need you to trust me. Would you trust me, young one?"

I nodded. "Of course."

He smiled. "Thank you. And now," he continued, lifting his hand and turning back, "your new family can do whatever they want with you."

"Sure- wait, what do you mean?"

"It's about time you felt what I went through when everyone wanted to check out my arms," Phos smirked.

"Good luck, Dan!" Red Dia called out beside the peppermint gem as the both of them prepared to leave. "I suggest you run!"

"I'll join those two, alright?" Katsumi said as she followed both the peppermint and the red diamond away.

I looked at Cinnabar.

"Cinn…"

All they did was smile back at me.

"Good luck."

She turned around and walked away.

"Hey, hey! I…"

I stared in horror as everyone else loomed closer.

"I… I... I'm not good with crowds..."

"Dissection!" Rutile said as she got closer with a slasher smile.

"Fashion!" Red Beryl cheerfully called out.

"Questions!" Dia declared sweetly.

"Combat…" Bort loomed over me.

"Lunarians!" Alex shouted.

And I was once again bombarded with questions.

"Someone, save me!"

* * *

I ran across the grassland towards the Lunarian cloud ahead.

It has been yet another few months since the three of us have returned, and life has never been better. With that secret off my chest, I'm finally able to feel what it truly means to be free; free to be me. That black night that was once my past life is finally a long way from home; this world is now my home.

For starters, Katsumi has been accepted by everyone and is now part of our family, not just a dimension-hopping friend. She was really happy when Sensei granted her residence in this world while Phos, Red Dia and I were at the moon, and that itself is another whole story to tell.

Anyway, it's back to summer again, everyone's in their regular uniforms again. Red Dia finally received the new version of uniform, and surprisingly enough, she loves it. Red Beryl still acknowledged the pros of having a short collar though, so she's busy coming up with a new uniform that utilizes that.

Speaking of the gems, I'm officially partnered with Phos for patrol. While Zircon is still with Bort, Red Dia and Yellow Dia have paired themselves together, and they've had loads of fun ever since. I've seen Red Dia's special sword, by the way; it's amazing, to say the least.

Anyway, what am I doing now? I'm going to assist Morg and Goshe against the Lunarians, while Phos goes back to the school to get backup.

"Morg! Goshe!" I shouted as I dodged multiple arrows and spears hurled at me

"Dan!" they called out as I leapt up to the Lunarian cloud, brandished my sword and took out a whole group of Lunarians.

"Man, it's all back to square one, isn't it?" I commented. "Even after going to the moon and coming back, they still show us no mercy at all!"

"Well, the Lunarians were never fond of us to begin with," Morg replied as they dodged a barrage of arrows.

With unspoken coordination, we leapt back onto the ground.

"We're thankful you're here, Dan," Goshe said as we went at it again.

"No need for thanks, Senpai; this is my job."

I took another swing, and three Lunarians were reduced into a puff of smoke.

"Now!" Morg shouted, and the three of us leapt up to slice the large Lunarian in half.

We landed back onto the ground.

The cloud didn't disperse.

Yellow spears came out from inside the sliced figurehead.

 _Deja vu…_

"Hey, heliodor spears again?" I commented.

"Those are synthetic, right?" Goshe asked.

"Yep. Real one's being turned back from dust into shards, but don't tell the Lunarians that."

"About time you whip out those knives of yours, Dan," the pink-haired gem commented. "You don't want them to-"

Two of the spears hit her and the silver-haired gem, shattering them instantly.

"... break us again…" she finished.

I dropped my sword and whipped out my balisong knives, feeling that warmth travel through me. "With pleasure."

I leapt up.

"Oh yes, let's dance."

 _I can't disperse them all; gotta need to wait till Sensei._

* * *

"Dan!"

"Jane!" I greeted as the red diamond lept beside me and blocked an arrow for me.

"Having fun, eh?" she smiled.

"You can say that," I smirked. "Hey, when's Sensei-"

"You two!" Phos called out from behind. "Clear the area!"

"You heard her," Red Dia said as we leapt back, landing behind everyone.

Sensei snapped his fingers.

The cloud disappeared in a cloud of steam.

"Good work," he said.

"T-thanks."

"And now…" Sensei muttered, looking at the two broken gems as both Red Dia and I walked up.

"Looking out for your elders again, are you?"

 _Uh-oh._

"HERE IT COMES!" Jade shouted. "FALL BACK!"

"Phos!" I shouted as everyone scrambled for cover. "I need you to shield me-"

I stared at the peppermint gem, Red Dia and Katsumi, the three of them all huddled together behind Phos' alloy shield.

"Sorry," the peppermint gem apologized sheepishly, "full house here."

"Eh?! My sword, need to hold onto- oh," I muttered, seeing my sword with Morg and Goshe.

I braced myself. _Guess it's my turn to hit the shockwave._

"IT'S STILL TOO EARLY FOR THAT! YOU FOOLS!"

The shockwave pushed at me, but I remained standing. _Surely I can stand like thi-_

"Ah!"

My torso was blasted back as my limbs were torn off and cracks covered my entire body.

I landed on the ground, motionless.

"Dan!" Phos called out as she, Red Dia and Katsumi rushed over. "Are you okay?"

"Well, aside from being in pieces on the ground?" I joked. "Yeah, I'm completely fine."

"Sorry for not giving you a space," Jane apologized, "but the last time Sensei shouted _I_ was the one to be broken! And that was last week!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, my bad for pushing you out of the shield at the last second. Guess we're even now."

"Ah, silly Nicole, we're always even!" the red diamond comforted me as she reached in for a hug.

I felt my cracks get wider.

"Ah! Sorry, but you get what I mean!"

"Yep!"

"Hey," I muttered out loud as my pieces were placed into the black bag.

"What is it?" Phos asked.

"It's been a whole year since I've came here. Look how the tables have turned, Phos."

"Hey, you're right!" she replied, smiling.

"So much has happened since then…" I recalled. "First the sea, then winter, then the moon…"

"And you guys found me!" Red Dia chimed in cheerfully.

"Everything really turned out for the best," Katsumi joined in smiling, picking up my sword and balisong knives.

"And I have a task for both you, Phos and Katsumi," Sensei also joined in, handing to me a notebook.

My eyes widened. "The encyclopedia… you don't mean…"

"Yes, I do. I would like to reinstate both you and Phos to resume work on the encyclopedia I have suspended months ago, now with the help of Katsumi."

The peppermint gem and I beamed. "Thanks, Sensei!" we replied altogether.

"You're welcome. Do not go into the sea again; to battle everything against you there, you would need a strength of a hundred-fold of mine."

"Not gonna be doing that…" I commented before realizing what I just said.

Phos and I looked at each other…

… before bursting into laughter.

"Oh, the tables really have turned, didn't they?" I giggled.

"For our sake let's hope you don't turn into a second Phos," Rutile muttered as she put the last pieces of me into the bag. "Really, Danburite, one Phosphophyllite is enough."

"You say it like it's a bad thing," the peppermint gem in question smirked.

"It _is_ ," the doctor replied, deadpan.

"Hey you quack, that's mean!"

"Let me shift a bit," I muttered, moving about in my bag as the two of them continued to bicker.

"Hey, stop moving!" Jade shouted as she struggled to keep me in place. "All your fragments are coming out!"

"Ah, sorry. Was finding a comfortable position."

"We should get you back now," Euclase commented from a distance away.

"Yeah, we're done here," the secretary replied as she zipped up my bag.

As I felt myself being lifted up and listened to the muffled sounds outside, I smiled.

I'm really at home. This is my new family, and I love everyone in it. And this isn't even the end of the line.

This is just the beginning. A new beginning. And I'm looking forward to whatever comes in this future.

… That doesn't quite explain my feelings, does it?

Ah, let me quote a song I've heard some time ago, back before everything. Guess that will sum everything up perfectly.

" _And the ones that need me got me,_

 _Ones that doubt me can't stop me._

 _Even the ones that say 'forget him',_

 _Bet your ass they ain't forgot me._

 _Either wanna hit me or hold me,_

 _Those that hate me don't know me._

 _And the ones that don't trust anybody trust me;_

 _Yeah, the ones that like me love me."_

 _End_


	31. Author's Note

_Author's Note_

 _ **What if someone became a gem?**_

 **That was the one thought that made me think about looking up for one such work. And I found it.**

 **However, something in that story didn't sit with me; the main character knows way too much. I wanted one story where the two worlds are unrelated, the origin world of the main character being one that not even the concept of HnK was even conceived by anyone.**

 **Then it hit me.** ** _What if I wrote my own?_**

 **Picking a gem of choice wasn't hard, but tedious. I want a gem that had been overlooked all this while, one that nobody has ever picked as an OC and used in an art commission or story.**

 **And somewhere down that search, I chanced upon danburite. First discovered under the town of Danbury in 1839 by Charles Upham Shephard. A Mohs hardness from 7 to 7.5, but has a poor cleavage, and brittle too. Comes in white, gray, brownish white, straw yellow or just simply colorless.**

 **I searched it up with "houseki no kuni" behind. No results.**

 **And thus, Dan was created.**

 **It was only somewhere around the time Chapter 5 or 6 was finished or halfway done when I discovered that danburite was prized as a healing stone; one that emotionally soothes, heals and increases the owner's spiritual senses.**

 **That was** ** _after_** **I came up with the idea for Dan to come over to this world to emotionally heal. Talk about coincidences, heh.**

 **I wanted the story to start off familiar, with the difference being that Dan tags along with Phos, then slowly but increasingly deviating from the original timeline due to the unknowing actions of this white gem. The butterfly effect. That's also how I thought about adding in Katsumi.**

 **Fun fact, the idea of Jane being Red Dia only came about at the exact moment when I first introduced her in Dan's flashback. I originally wanted Jane to be a past friend of Dan, and the latter slowly moving on from the former's death.**

 **Another fun fact, I have an actual piece of danburite at home. It's twinned, weighs 42 grams; really picked it on eBay because of these two factors. It now rests inside a small display box with a red ribbon tied around said box, resting on the paper napkin that it was wrapped in when it was shipped.**

 **This is just the end of a beginning; but this definitely doesn't mean that Dan's story has come to an end. Would I make a sequel? Maybe. A prequel going into deeper detail about Red Dia's time? Perhaps. A few chapters about whatever happened back at the school while Phos and Dan were on the moon? I like that idea, it's very much possible. Maybe redo this fanfic and further refine it and redo some parts? If I have the time, yes.**

 **What I really want to say is, thank you for the overwhelming support, all of you. When I created this, I had no idea this would become this big; I'm really grateful for the encouragement all of you gave me. I've written many things; mainly compositions in schools and an original story I've never published/finished, but I've never written a fanfiction before. "New Beginnings" is, no doubt, my proudest work of fanmade literature yet.**

 **Once again, thanks guys, you're the best!**

 **\- Salocin**

* * *

 **As a bonus, have this timeline I made for myself to keep track of the pre-gem Nicole's life; did this because I couldn't simply backtrack into the previous chapters to make sure I didn't screw up my own continuity (or that I could, but the info was all in bits and pieces around everywhere). I didn't want to share it officially initially, but hey, here it is. Also, note the date of Nicole's death; when was this fanfic first published? ;)**

2001 - Birth of Nicole

2008 - Nicole enters primary school

2014 - Nicole enters secondary school, everything goes downhill, meets Jane. So what basically happened: Nicole accidentally bumped into a very petty classmate purely by accident; said classmate decided to make it a point to ruin her life by spreading rumors, sabotaging and basically seeking out every way to make her miserable. This eventually evolved over the next few years into an open hatred for Nicole in the whole class itself, and even the teachers were caught on with it. Also affects Nicole's grades permanently for the rest of her human life.

2015 - Streaming year; Jane lamented at least once about her not being able to meet the criteria necessary for "pure" subjects.

2016 - Jane moves away. Over this year, Nicole was bullied the same as always; however, this time, Jane was no longer there for Nicole to rely on. Also involves an undetailed incident when Nicole was sabotaged and humiliated in front of the whole school during a presentation she worked really hard for.

11 Jan 2017 - Jane dies; Nicole hears the news and breaks down at her wake a day later. Her emotional health deteriorated rapidly over the next few months.

10 April 2017 - An incident involving Nicole as the scapegoat. Basically, earlier in the day the principal visited the class wanted to call Nicole's parents after reviewing her recent results. During recess, the class was playing and accidentally dropped a literal mallet down from a few floors up, right when the principal was downstairs. Thankfully, it didn't hurt anyone. However, the class ganged up together to collectively frame Nicole, who had in reality actually ran off to a quiet corner of the school to weep and actually attempt to convince herself that everything will become better soon, in order to escape punishment. Later that day, the principal called for a whole school gathering in the hall to give Nicole a public caning. The original intent was actually to give Nicole 5 strokes (which is still bad, but when compared to what she actually received is very mild); however, aggravated by Nicole's refusal to accept the blame of something she has never done before and finally pushed over the edge, the principal heavily assaulted the poor girl in front of the whole school and immediately expelled her after that. Nicole was also heavily caned by her parents, who genuinely thought that their child had actually committed the incident. That night, while sobbing uncontrollably in her bed, all the tendons in her heart snapped simultaneously, a result of prolonged misery; she died that night.

Day 1 - Nicole is reborn as Danburite and wakes up on the island. You know the rest.


End file.
